Telephone Tapping

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 
	(1)  whether he has made an assessment of the effects of media telephone hacking on (a) public figures and (b) victims of terrorism in Northern Ireland;
	(2)  whether he has had discussions with (a) the Secretary of State for the Home Department and (b) the Metropolitan police on possible telephone hacking of (i) public figures and (ii) victims of terrorism in Northern Ireland.

Hugo Swire: Phone hacking is no more acceptable in Northern Ireland than in any other part of the UK, and illegal activities in this area will be pursued in accordance with the law.
	The Metropolitan police have a considerable body of evidence to consider, and at this early stage it is not possible to make an assessment of any impact on victims in Northern Ireland.
	The inquiry the Government are establishing into phone hacking and other illegal activity in the press will extend to Northern Ireland. The Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), is consulting the Executive on its terms of reference.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Transport on plans to extend the High Speed 2 project to Edinburgh and Glasgow.

David Mundell: The Government remain committed to a truly national high speed rail network which will be delivered in phases. This would deliver clear benefits to Scotland and this issue has been discussed with the Secretary of State for Transport, the right hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), on various occasions, most recently on 11 July.

Excise Duties: Fuels

Robert Halfon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  whether his Department has estimated the effect on tax receipts for motoring fuel of a decrease in the rate of taxation on such fuel;
	(2)  whether his Department assessed the possible marginal effect on (a) low income (i) individuals and (ii) families, (b) middle income groups and (c) high income groups of his planned increase in fuel duty on 1 January 2012;
	(3)  whether his Department assessed the possible marginal effect on low-income (a) individuals and (b) families of any increase in (i) VAT and (ii) motoring fuel duty; and if he will publish any such assessment;
	(4)  how much (a) fuel duty and (b) VAT revenue accrued to the Exchequer from sales of petrol and diesel in each of the last 10 financial years;
	(5)  whether his Department classifies motoring fuel duty as a progressive tax.

Justine Greening: At Budget 2011, the Government published their distributional analysis of the expected impact of announced government measures on household incomes, split by direct taxes, indirect taxes and tax credits and benefits. This can be found in annex A of the Budget Report. This analysis includes the impact of the increase in VAT, and other indirect tax changes such as the one penny cut in fuel duty and the ending of the fuel escalator.
	The analysis shows that, in absolute terms, the higher income and expenditure households on average contribute more in indirect tax than lower income and expenditure households, while average impacts as a proportion of income and expenditure are relatively flat across the distribution of households.
	VAT-registered traders are not required to record in their VAT return the type of goods or services on which VAT has been collected. Fuel duty receipts are published in table 3 of the UK Trade Info Hydrocarbon Oils Bulletin:
	https://www.uktradeinfo.com/index.cfm?task=bulloil

Local Government Resource Review

Caroline Flint: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many officials in his Department (a) are working on the local government resources review and (b) have been seconded to the Department for Communities and Local Government to work on the review.

Justine Greening: One member of HMT staff is working on the local government resource review, and is co-located with the relevant team at the Department for Communities and Local Government. A number of other officials have been involved in advising Treasury Ministers on issues being considered through the review, as part of their wider substantive policy remits.

Northern Rock plc

Andrew Love: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what advice he received from UK Financial Investments regarding the disposal of the Government's shareholding in Northern Rock; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  if he will publish the (a) reports, (b) advice and (c) other information that underpinned his decision on the sale of Northern Rock; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: UK Financial Investments sent advice to the Chancellor of the Exchequer concluding that the best value would likely to be achieved by starting a sale process of Northern Rock plc.
	The Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), announced the launch of the sale in his speech at Mansion House on 15 June.
	On 16 June my noble Friend Lord Sassoon, the Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, and I made statements to the House regarding the Chancellor of the Exchequer's decision to proceed with the sale option.
	The report received by the Chancellor of the Exchequer contains commercially sensitive information and will not be published.

VAT: Tax Rates and Bands

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will assess the effect that the most recent increase in the rate of VAT has had on families in (a) Liverpool, Walton, (b) North West Hampshire and (c) Beaconsfield.

David Gauke: Data to make an assessment of the effect that the most recent increase in the rate of VAT has had on families is not available at constituency level. Annex A of the June 2010 Budget document provided analysis of the distributional impact of the Budget, including the VAT rate change.

British Sky Broadcasting: News International

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport 
	(1)  what (a) meetings and (b) other engagements (i) Ministers and (ii) special advisers in his Department attended which were also attended by (A) representatives and (B) employees of BSkyB since 12 May 2010;
	(2)  what (a) meetings and (b) other engagements (i) Ministers and (ii) special advisers in his Department attended which were also attended by (A) representatives and (B) employees of News International and its subsidiary organisations since May 2010.

Jeremy Hunt: holding answer 14 July 2011
	The Department publishes details of Ministers meetings with outside interest groups on our website
	http://www.transparency.culture.gov.uk/category/financial/expenses-and-hospitality/
	This is updated on a regular basis. In addition, I refer the hon. Member to the Prime Minister's statement to the House of 13 July 2011, Official Report, columns 311-14. Following the consultations on the Ministerial Code, the Department will amend this information if necessary.
	In the particular case of the proposed News Corp/BSkyB merger, I have recorded on my Department's website that I had meetings with News Corp on 6 and 20 January, and minutes of these meetings will be published in due course.

Broadband

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport when he last met Ministers in the Scottish Government to discuss the roll-out of superfast broadband.

Edward Vaizey: The Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), has not recently met with Ministers of the Scottish Government in person. However, he did discuss the roll-out of superfast broadband in Scotland with the Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment, Alex Neil MSP, in a teleconference on the 29 June 2011.

Telecommunications: Hearing Impairment

Michael Crockart: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport if he will discuss with Ofcom the hosting of regional roadshows as part of its review into relay service provision to enable profoundly deaf British Sign Language users to participate in the consultation.

Edward Vaizey: The Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport, my right hon. Friend the Member for South West Surrey (Mr Hunt), has no current plans to discuss with Ofcom the way it is conducting its review of relay services:
	Ofcom are aware of the differing communications needs of British Sign Language (BSL) users and are fully committed to make their consultation process accessible to BSL users.
	When Ofcom publish the full consultation document on their website it will be accompanied by a BSL video translation. The video will summarise the issues, objectives and findings of the review so far. It will also translate the consultation questions and give an explanation of how BSL users, who wish to do so, can respond to the consultation.
	Ofcom will be inviting BSL respondents to provide a response to us on the consultation questions by e-mail or through a video response including a DVD, Windows Media Video (WMV) or by uploading their video response directly to a hosting site such as YouTube and to then send Ofcom the URL link. For video responses that are not marked as confidential, these will then be translated into written English and will be put up on Ofcom's website with other consultation responses alongside a link to the video, so that all interested stakeholders can view responses.

Academies

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which under-performing schools he expects to convert to academy status in the next academic year; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: The Government have published on the Department for Education's website a list of all the sponsored academy projects in development.
	http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/typesofschools/academies
	Sponsored academies replace underperforming schools. The most recent list was published on 5 July and it included the details of 94 schools that are planned to open as sponsored academies in the academic year 2011/12. This list will be updated every month.
	In addition, it was announced on 16 June that as an urgent priority we would look to reopen as academies the 200 primary schools that have been below the floor standard for the last five years or longer. The majority of these schools will become academies in the academic year 2012/13. Those that we are able to open as academies in the academic year 2011/12 will be added to our website as the projects develop.

English Baccalaureate: Teachers

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent assessment he has made of the number of fully qualified teachers available to teach core English baccalaureate subjects.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 11 July 2011
	Information on the qualifications and deployment of teachers in the secondary sector is collected in the new School Workforce Census, which took place in November 2010. The “School Workforce Census Statistical First Release” provides a head count of teachers to year groups 7 to 13 by subject in Table 12 and the proportions of teachers with a relevant post A-level qualification in the subjects they taught to year groups 7 to 13, split by subject, in Table 13.
	The following table summarises the number of teachers of English baccalaureate subjects, and the proportion with a relevant post A-level qualification in the subject taught.
	
		
			 Teachers of English baccalaureate subjects  (1)   in publicly funded secondary schools (head count) to year groups 7 to 13 in 2010, and the proportions with a relevant post A-level qualification  (2, 3)   in the subject, November 2010, coverage: England 
			 Subject  (1) Total head count (Thousands) Any relevant post A-level qualification  (3 )  (percentage) 
			 Mathematics 33.0 74.0 
			 English 36.6 79.6 
			 Combined/General Science(4) 33.3 88.6 
			 Physics(4) 5.6 68.6 
			 Chemistry(4) 6.7 72.7 
			 Biology(4) 8.4 88.4 
			    
			 History 15.0 75.5 
		
	
	
		
			 Geography 13.5 72.0 
			    
			 French 14.7 76.6 
			 German 5.7 68.5 
			 Spanish 6.4 53.2 
			 Other Modern Languages 3.3 33.5 
			    
			 Classics(5) 0.6 48.3 
			 (1 )Teachers are counted once against each subject that they are teaching. Head counts are used, so a teacher teaching French and German would be counted once in each. In the science subjects, the teacher will be counted under the subject as marked on their timetable—if a teacher is marked as teaching physics then they will only be counted under physics, whereas if they are marked as teaching physics and combined/general science they will be counted once against each subject. The 33,300 combined/general science teachers are teachers with combined/general science on their timetables; the figure does not include physics, biology and chemistry teachers unless they are teaching it as an additional subject and is marked as such on their timetables. (2 )A full list of what was deemed as a ‘relevant’ qualification subject for each curriculum subject taught can be found on the SFR home page. (3 )Includes all qualifications at National Qualifications Framework (NQF) level 4 and above. (4 )Teachers qualified in biology, chemistry, or physics are qualified to teach combined/general science. (5 )Classics includes classics, classical Greek, classical Hebrew and Latin. (6 )Not all schools were able to submit curriculum information, and not all qualifications returns were complete. Qualifications information was either not provided, or the subject field was missing for 12% of the teachers in schools submitting curriculum data. Note: Percentages are row percentages, and based on the number of teachers for whom curriculum and qualifications information was provided. Source:  School Workforce Census, SFR Table 13. 
		
	
	A full list of subjects and the proportion of teachers with a relevant qualification is available in Table 13 of the School Workforce Statistical First Release, available at:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000997/index.shtml

Headteachers: Ethnic Groups

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many non-white male head teachers are employed in schools in (a) Brighton and Hove, (b) Sussex and (c) England.

Nick Gibb: In November 2010 there were 130 male head teachers recorded as being from non-white ethnic groups employed in publicly-funded schools in England; this represents 1.8% of those male head teachers whose ethnic group was recorded.
	Information disaggregated below national level will become available on 20 July. A wide range of regional, local authority and school level workforce measures, including ethnicity, will be published on the Department's website at the following link:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000997/index.shtml
	Non-white ethnic groups include those of mixed white origins. The information provided is taken from the School Workforce Census and, of the 7,620 male head teachers in service, ethnicity details were provided for 7,260.

Religion: Education

Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what steps his Department has taken against schools which have not fulfilled their obligations in respect of the teaching of religious education at Key Stage (a) 3 and (b) 4 since his appointment; and what sanctions are available to his Department in such cases.

Nick Gibb: The Department has not been made aware of specific instances of schools which have not fulfilled their obligations in respect of the teaching of religious education at any key stage.
	Religious education (RE) is a statutory part of the basic curriculum and all maintained schools, by law, must provide RE for all pupils attending school.
	The head teacher of a school, its governors, and the local authority, are responsible for ensuring that the school provides religious education: Maintained schools are obliged to follow the locally agreed syllabus provided by the local authority.
	Academies are also required to provide RE, and this is set out in an academy's funding agreement. As with all subjects, academies have the freedom to design their own curriculum for re. a parent may raise a complaint about an academy with the academy trust, and if their complaint is not handled appropriately, they may refer it to the Young People's Learning Agency (YPLA), which deals with complaints about academies on behalf of the Secretary of State.
	A complaint about the curriculum in maintained schools should in the first instance be considered by the governing body (GB), as they share responsibility for the curriculum with the head teacher. If the complainant is not satisfied with the way in which the GB considers their complaint, they may refer it to the local authority. Ultimately the matter may be referred to the Secretary of State if it is not still not resolved.

Teachers: Qualifications

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans his Department has to recognise (a) Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills and (b) Qualified Teacher Status qualifications; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: Following her review of vocational education, Professor Wolf recommended that Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS) status should be recognised in schools. We agree that schools should have the freedom to appoint the right teachers for their pupils and the Secretary of State for Education, my right hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath (Michael Gove), immediately accepted this recommendation.
	Professor Wolfs recommendation will be implemented as soon as possible subject to statutory requirements and parliamentary process. We will consult fully on any amendments to the existing regulations.

Brazil

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether he discussed the Rio 2012 Conference on Sustainable Development with representatives of the Brazilian government during his recent visit to Brazil; and what the outcome was of any such discussion.

Nicholas Clegg: I discussed the Rio 2012 Conference on Sustainable Development with members of the Brazilian Government including the Vice President and Foreign Minister. Conscious of the lasting impact of the Rio Conference of 1992, I made clear that the UK would play a full part in partnership with Brazil in helping this conference, 20 years on, plot a sustainable way forward for the world for the next 20 years.
	The Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs held detailed discussions on this during her visit to Brazil in April and is in close touch with the Brazilian Environment Minister.

Members: Correspondence

Teresa Pearce: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Erith and Thamesmead of 15 April 2011 on behalf of a constituent, Maurice Seamons.

Nicholas Clegg: The Minister for Political and Constitutional Reform, my hon. Friend the Member for Forest of Dean (Mr Harper), has replied on my behalf to the letter of 15 April from the hon. Member.

Kashmir: Human Rights

Steven Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has received on Amnesty International's recent report on the human rights situation in Kashmir.

Alistair Burt: We are aware of the recent report by Amnesty International that provides evidence of large numbers of detentions in Indian administered Kashmir over the past twenty years. Members of the all-party parliamentary group on Kashmir raised it with me when I met them on 7 June 2011. The Minister of State, my noble Friend, the right hon. Lord Howell, answered a similar question in the other place on 6 April 2011, Official Report, House of Lords, column WA396.
	During a recent visit to Indian administered Kashmir, officials from our High Commission in New Delhi discussed this issue with the Jammu and Kashmir state police and human rights groups. The issue of security legislation including the Armed Forces Special Powers Act as enforced in certain regions of India, was raised with the Indian Government during the recent EU-India human rights dialogue.

Overseas Education: Scholarships

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions officials of his Department have had with the Department for Education on study abroad scholarships.

Jeremy Browne: Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) officials have had no recent discussions with the Department for Education on study abroad scholarships.

South Sudan: Diplomatic Relations

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will establish diplomatic relations with South Sudan.

David Lidington: The British Government were among the first to recognise the Republic of South Sudan. We now have an embassy in Juba as well as a Department for International Development office. The British ambassador to South Sudan, is already in Juba.

Sudan: Peacekeeping Operations

Guto Bebb: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his policy is on future support for the UN mission in Sudan.

David Lidington: The British Government's view is that the presence of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) is still needed in Southern Kordofan Stale, We have consistently made this view clear. However. UN peacekeeping operations are deployed with the consent of the main parties to the conflict and the Government of Sudan insisted that UNMIS cease to operate in Sudan alter 9 July. Security Council Resolution 1997, adopted on 11 July, therefore set in motion the withdrawal of UNMIS by 31 August 2011, while expressing the readiness of the Council to continue current UN operations in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile States.

Defence: Procurement

Michael Dugher: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the monetary value is of urgent operational requirements (UOR) for Libya; and to what equipment each UOR relates.

Peter Luff: To date, only two urgent operational requirements (UORs) have been approved for Libya. The first was for the procurement of two Litening III Laser Designator Pods for use on Typhoon aircraft. Procurement of these pods was brought forward as a UOR due to the emergent need but, are being funded by the core equipment budget as the cost of £3.12 million had already been planned. The second was for the extension of the Digimap system that has been successfully used in Operation Herrick at a cost of £200,000 provided through the reserve.

Defence: Procurement

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many procurement contracts his Department has awarded to small businesses since May 2010.

Peter Luff: The most recent period for which data is available is the 12 months to the end of March 2011. During that period, we estimate that the Ministry of Defence placed approximately 2,500 new procurement contracts directly with small and medium-sized enterprises. This number relates to contracts administered through our central system which excludes purchases made through the Government procurement card and miscellaneous transactions. It also excludes all contracts let by prime contractors through the supply chain.

Italy: Armed Forces

Caroline Dinenage: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many armed forces personnel are currently stationed or deployed in Italy.

Nick Harvey: holding answer 14 July 2011
	The number of service personnel deployed or stationed in Italy as at 11 July 2011 are given in the following table.
	
		
			  Number of service personnel  (1) 
			 Gioia Dell Colle, Italy 550 
			 Trapani, Italy 150 
			 Poggio Renatico, Italy 50 
			 Naples, Italy 100 
			 Other(2) 501 
		
	
	
		
			 (1 )Rounded to the nearest 50 personnel. (2 )Includes Defence Section personnel in support of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and other standing liaison officer roles. 
		
	
	The precise number of personnel overseas fluctuates on a daily basis for a variety of reasons, including temporary absence for training, evacuation for medical reasons, the roulement of forces, visits and a range of other factors. We do not, therefore, publish actual figures for personnel deployed.

Pensioners: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the average monetary value of benefits in kind provided by his Department to (a) single pensioners and (b) pensioner couples in York in respect of (i) NHS services, (ii) social services, (iii) travel concessions, (iv) television licences, (v) insulation, home repairs and improvement grants and (vi) other services in each year since 2005.

Steve Webb: A wide range of services and benefits in kind are available to older people and these are administered both centrally and locally by a number of Government Departments. As a result, the information is not available in the format requested: some information is not collected and some could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The information which is available is given as follows.
	(i) NHS services
	People aged 60 and over are able to claim free prescriptions and eye tests on the grounds of age. Detailed information on prescription charges is not held in the format requested.
	Free NHS sight tests were made available to people aged 60 and over from 1 April 1999. Information on the average value of NHS sight tests provided to people aged 60 and over within the area of the former York and Selby PCT is only available on a consistent basis for one year 2005-06 and is set out in the following table.
	
		
			 Financial year Number of free NHS sight tests given to people aged 60 and over Estimated cost of NHS sight tests to people aged 60 and over(£) 
			 2005-06 25,057 460,798 
		
	
	PCT were restructured in October 2006 and no equivalent data for 2006-07 are available. Information for 2007-08 to 2009-10 is available for the North Yorkshire and York PCT area and is set out in the following table.
	
		
			 Financial year Number of free NHS sight tests given to people aged 60 and over Estimated cost of NHS sight tests to people aged 60 and over  (£) 
			 2007-08 88,428 1,708,429 
			 2008-09 90,380 1,789,524 
			 2009-10 89,805 1,819,449 
		
	
	There is no automatic entitlement for pensioners to NHS optical vouchers or free dental treatment. Individuals may qualify for these benefits if they are in receipt of certain qualifying benefits, or if they have been assessed as eligible for assistance under the NHS low income scheme. Information on the value of such NHS services provided to patients of pensionable age who qualify on the basis of their personal economic circumstances is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	(ii) Social Services
	The following table shows the gross current expenditure by York council on social services for people aged 65 or over from 2005-06 to 2009-10.
	
		
			 Gross current expenditure  (1)   by York Council on older people (aged 65 or over) 
			 £000 
			 Year (1 April to 31 March) Gross current expenditure 
			 2005-06 27,500 
			 2006-07 27,600 
			 2007-08 27,600 
			 2008-09 30,800 
			 2009-10 32,439 
			 (1) Gross expenditure includes income from client contributions, but excludes capital charges and certain income items which count as expenditure elsewhere in the public sector, such as contributions from primary care trusts. This is to avoid double counting within the aggregate public sector accounts of the money involved. Notes: 1. From 2002-03 onwards, the data include clients who transferred to council with social services responsibilities (CSSR) support on 8 April 2002, who were formally in receipt of higher rates of income support under the Department for Work and Pensions preserved rights scheme. 2. From 2003-04, additional funding was made available to CSSRs via the Supporting People grant. Source: R03 and PSS EX1 returns 
		
	
	(iii) Travel Concessions
	The statutory minimum travel concession, introduced in April 2008, gives those of pensionable aged and eligible disabled people free off-peak local bus travel in any part of England. The Government provide around £1 billion a year to fund the concession.
	Travel concession schemes are provided through local authorities, which have flexibility to enhance their schemes to offer more than the statutory minimum, so there are local variations in what is offered and take-up of concessionary travel also varies from one area to another. Therefore it is not possible to quantify the value of the benefit in kind in a specific local authority area.
	(iv) Television Licences
	Free television licences for people aged 75 or over were introduced in November 2000. TV Licensing, who administer free licences as agents for the BBC, are not able to provide geographical breakdowns of licences issued. However, figures, shown in the following table, are available for the number of households with at least one person aged 75 or over receiving winter fuel payments in York local authority. These people would be eligible for a free television licence.
	
		
			 York local authority area 
			   TV licences fees (£ 
			  Number of households with someone aged 75 or over Colour Black and White 
			 2005-06 11,930 126.50 42.00 
			 2006-07 12,070 131.50 44.00 
			 2007-08 12,240 135.50 45.50 
			 2008-09 12,180 139.50 47.00 
			 2009-10 12,290 142.50 48.00 
		
	
	(v) Insulation
	The Warm Front scheme is one of the Government's key programme for tackling fuel poverty in vulnerable households in the private sector in England. Warm Front provides grants for heating, insulation and energy efficiency measures. The following table displays the number of pensioner households that have received Warm Front assistance in the York local authority area since 2005, and the average spend on each of those households.
	
		
			  Number of single pensioner households assisted in York Average spend per single pensioner household assisted (£) Number of two pensioners households assisted in York Average spend per two pensioner household assisted (£) 
			 2005-06 199 778.45 102 765.08 
			 2006-07 364 753.92 252 657.25 
			 2007-08 390 1,020.33 297 998.20 
			 2008-09 199 1,741.24 155 1,612.50 
			 2009-10 142 1,639.09 103 1,542.74 
		
	
	In addition, the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT), an obligation on energy suppliers to deliver carbon savings in the household sector, is the primary existing driver of household energy saving measures—especially insulation. To ensure an equitable distribution of the benefits, the scheme requires a proportion of the carbon savings be achieved in the homes of 'priority' lower income households (aged 70 and over or on certain means tested benefits). In the first two years of the scheme, between April 2008 and March 2010, 3,861 priority group households in York benefited from subsidised loft and/or cavity wall insulation under the scheme. CERT runs to December 2012.

Social Security Benefits

Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what his policy is on linking benefit payments to education training programmes.

Chris Grayling: From 1 August a recipient of jobseeker’s allowance or employment and support allowance (work-related activity group) in England may be required by a Jobcentre Plus adviser, or by a provider working on behalf of Jobcentre Plus, to attend work-related education training programmes or careers advice. Failure to attend without good reason would lead to a benefit sanction. This is not the case at present. The change is intended to improve take-up and completion of work-related training so that lack of basic work skills do not hinder the claimant’s opportunities in the labour market, thus enabling the claimant to find a job and keep it as soon as possible.
	Jobcentre Plus advisers and providers will take into account a claimant’s circumstances and skills needs and only consider a mandatory referral to training activity which will aid the claimant’s movement into work. Before a mandatory referral to training can be made, the skills provider must have confirmed that they are able and willing to accept the claimant onto an appropriate course. Units of accredited training will be offered as well as longer courses and the content of the course will depend upon the identified job goals and skills need of the claimant.

Unemployment

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will estimate the average cost to the public purse of a job loss or redundancy (a) nationally, (b) in Derby and (c) in the east midlands.

Edward Davey: I have been asked to reply.
	There are always redundancies, job losses and separations. For example, seasonally adjusted figures from the Labour Force Survey indicated that there were 144,000 redundancies in the UK in March to May 2011.The number of redundancies has fallen substantially since the recession.
	It is not possible to estimate the overall average cost to the public purse because it will depend on the state of the economy, whether the redundant person takes up a benefit and how long they remain on benefit before they leave—either to go into work or another destination. For example, even though there were 144,000 redundancies, overall employment during the period March to May 2011 rose—by 50,000—because the numbers moving into jobs exceeded the numbers that left—including those made redundant.
	There is, however, a direct cost of redundancy to the public purse. Businesses are required by law to make statutory redundancy payments. Businesses bear the costs of these redundancy payments except in cases where the business becomes insolvent. In such cases the Insolvency Service bears the costs of the statutory redundancy payments. The redundancy payments made by the service to ex employees of insolvent employers during the period Apr 2009 to March 2010 amounted to £270,012,000.

Universal Credit

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether his Department has made an estimate of the number of housing benefit staff that may be made redundant under proposals to introduce universal credit; and what his estimate is of the cost of such redundancies to (a) local authorities, (b) housing associations and (c) private contractors.

Steve Webb: It is still too early to say how many staff, and what skills and experience will be required for universal credit. Decisions about TUPE and redundancy cannot be made until there is much more definition around the specific roles required to deliver the new universal credit. Although it is anticipated that fewer staff will be required compared to the legacy benefits, it is too early to say which staff and organisations will be affected. The impact on local authority staff will be affected by the design of the council tax benefit replacement, and decisions about the delivery model for universal credit.

Universal Credit

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  how many housing benefit staff employed by (a) local authorities, (b) housing associations and (c) contractors he expects will transfer to his Department under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 to administer universal credit;
	(2)  how many staff will be needed to assess housing costs following the introduction of universal credit.

Steve Webb: The Welfare Reform White Paper sets out that the Department for Work and Pensions will be responsible for organising the delivery of universal credit. It also states that we will continue to pay housing benefit to working age customers until we can migrate them successfully on to universal credit, currently expected to be by October 2017. We have yet to settle on the precise details of how the transition will work, and the effects on housing benefits’ staff. This approach will ensure an orderly transition and that we have people with relevant skills and experience to support claimants both in work and out of work, as they migrate to the new credit.
	We will continue to work with colleagues in HM Revenue and Customs and local authorities to test new ways of working and consider how, in the longer term, we can build on the best capabilities of current organisations to provide a consistently excellent service to claimants and ensure value for money.

Fire Services

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what plans he has to enable improved sharing of (a) information and (b) operating practices between fire and rescue services.

Bob Neill: It is for each fire and rescue authority to decide the type and level of information it may choose to share with other fire and rescue authorities or partner agencies. Fire and rescue authorities have responsibility as with other local authorities for the use and protection of personal and secure data and information and Government have produced guidance, to assist fire and rescue authorities to comply with the relevant legislation.
	The Government's expectation was laid out in the National Framework (2008-11) where fire and rescue authorities must:
	“Have in place systematic arrangements to ensure incident and safety event outcomes inform the ongoing development of safe systems of work and training and development of staff. This should include the sharing of risk critical information on a regional/national basis when appropriate.”
	The chief fire and rescue adviser has responsibility for the production of national operational guidance for the fire and rescue service. Systems are in place to gather information from operational incidents to determine and refresh such guidance where appropriate.

Departmental Dismissal

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many officials in her Department were dismissed for under-performance as a result of the procedures arising from her Department's staff appraisal system in each of the last three years.

Richard Benyon: In DEFRA staff are dismissed for under performance following application of the formal Improving Performance or Probation Procedures.
	The following table shows the number of staff subject to formal performance action in each of the last three years where action has resulted in dismissal. This information is provided for core DEFRA and its agencies. Five of these cases relate to unsatisfactory probation. These figures do not include staff who left the department or its agencies when subject to informal performance action. No central records are kept of these departures.
	
		
			  Number of dismissals 
			 2009-10 (1)— 
			 2010-11 9 
			 2011-12 0 
			 (1) Details of dismissals in this year are being withheld for confidentiality reasons as the number of dismissals is less than five.

Marine Conservation Zone

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what quality assurance processes will be applied to (a) environmental, (b) social and (c) economic data used in the English Marine Conservation Zone regional projects; and what timetable has been set for the completion of such quality assurance processes.

Richard Benyon: The Government's policy is that the best available evidence should be used to identify sites and conservation objectives. This policy is set out in the Government's Guidance Note 1 on the Selection and Designation of Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs), to which the Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies (SNCBs) and Marine Conservation Zones Regional Projects are working. The evidence used in the regional project process includes data supplied by national contracts, with regionally and locally sourced data, and expert knowledge. Ministers want to make sound decisions on sites to take forward for designation, so we have, and will continue, to ensure quality assurance processes are put in place.
	The independent Science Advisory Panel has provided scientific advice to the regional projects on the creation of an ecologically-coherent network and ecological evidence. The panel has reviewed all the iterations and the draft recommendations of the regional projects. For social and economic data, the impact assessment being drawn up by the SNCBs and regional projects will be externally peer reviewed. In addition, we have asked the regional projects to reference all evidence used (both scientific and stakeholder evidence) to reach their recommendations and assess the social and economic impact, and the quality control and assurance processes they applied. We have asked the SNCBs to provide us with a clear assessment of the scientific certainty and quality assurance of evidence used.
	The regional project recommendations will be submitted on 31 August 2011, the final Science Advisory Panel review of these recommendations is expected to be completed by mid October 2011, the external peer review of the impact assessment is expected to be completed by mid November, and the SNCB advice (including their assessment of scientific certainty) will be provided in mid January 2012.

Pig Meat: EU Action

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the effects of implementing the recommendations of the European Commission's Pigmeat Enlarged Advisory Group.

James Paice: On 18 May 2011, the EU Commission presented the key conclusions of the Enlarged Advisory Group on Pig Meat. These focus on the role of innovation in boosting the competitiveness of the sector and the importance of better integration across the industry. The Commission has made no specific recommendations at this stage, but expects to consider the sector further in its forthcoming legislative proposals on the future CAP.

River Ouse

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how her Department monitors the riverbed levels of the tidal River Ouse; and how the outcome of this monitoring is communicated to the public.

Richard Benyon: The Environment Agency (EA) undertakes bed level surveys of the Tidal River Great Ouse every three months and has done so for many years. Survey information is available back to the 1940’s and provides data to monitor both long and short term changes to the bed level profile.
	This survey data is not routinely published, but is available on request. It is frequently used by the EA for analysts, programming works or in developing long-term strategies, such as the Great Ouse Tidal River Strategy, which was available to all stakeholders including the public at the consultation stage.
	The bed level survey data is used by the EA when briefing local stakeholders, such as internal drainage boards, conservation organisations and local communities, for example, Welney parish council, about the current state of siltation in the Great Ouse.

Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were treated for alcohol-related illnesses in (a) York, (b) North Yorkshire and York primary care trust area and (c) England in each year since 1997.

Anne Milton: The information is in the following table. These data should not be described as a count of people as the same person may have been admitted on more than one occasion.
	We have not been able to include data for 1997-98 to 2001-02 as requested as alcohol attributable fractions are only available from 2002-03.
	
		
			 Number of finished admission episodes which are estimated to be alcohol-related for England, York local authority (LA), and North Yorkshire and York primary care trust (PCT) of residence; 2002-03 to 2009-10 
			  Activity in English NHS   h  ospitals and English NHS commissioned activity in the independent sector 
			  England York LA North Yorkshire and York PCT of residence 
			 2002-03 510,778 1,926 8,087 
			 2003-04 570,108 2,134 9,130 
			 2004-05 644,738 2,483 9,981 
			 2005-06 736,054 2,791 10,391 
			 2006-07 802,066 2,878 10,862 
			 2007-08 863,566 2,725 11,484 
			 2008-09 945,470 3,252 12,662 
			 2009-10 1,056,962 3,280 14,808 
			 Notes: 1. Alcohol-related admissions. The number of alcohol-related admissions is based on the methodology developed by the North West Public Health Observatory (NWPHO), which uses 48 indicators for alcohol-related illnesses, determining the proportion of a wide range of diseases and injuries that can be partly attributed to alcohol as well as those that are, by definition, wholly attributable to alcohol. Further information on these proportions can be found at: www.nwph.net/nwpho/publications/AlcoholAttributableFractions.pdf The application of the NWPHO methodology has recently been updated and is now available directly from HES. As such, information about episodes estimated to be alcohol related may be slightly different from previously published data. 2.PCT/SHA data quality. In July 2006, the NHS reorganised strategic health authorities (SHAs) and primary care trusts (PCTs) in England from 28 SHAs into 10, and from 303 PCTs into 152. As a result data from 2006-07 onwards is not directly comparable with previous years. Data has been presented for those SHA/PCTs which have valid data for the breakdown presented here. As a result some SHA/PCTs may be missing from the list provided. See the following table. It should be noted that in 2005-06; Craven, Harrogate and Rural District PCT, Hambleton and Richmondshire PCT, Scarborough, Whitby and Ryedale PCT and Selby and York PCT merged to form North Yorkshire and York PCT of residence. 3. SHA/PCT/LA of residence. The SHA, PCT or LA containing the patient's normal home address. This does not necessarily reflect where the patient was treated as they may have travelled to another area for treatment. 4. Assessing growth through time. HES figures are available from 1989-90 onwards. Changes to the figures over time need to be interpreted in the context of improvements in data quality and coverage (particularly in earlier years), improvements in coverage of independent sector activity (particularly from 2006-07) and changes in NHS practice. For example, apparent reductions in activity may be due to a number of procedures which may now be undertaken in outpatient settings and so no longer include in admitted patient HES data. 5. Number of episodes in which the patient had an alcohol-related primary or secondary diagnosis. These figures represent the number of episodes where an alcohol-related diagnosis was recorded in any of the 20 (14 from 2002-03 to 2006-07 and seven prior to 2002-03) primary and secondary diagnosis fields in a HES record. Each episode is only counted once in each count, even if an alcohol-related diagnosis is recorded in more than one diagnosis field of the record. 6. Data quality. HES are compiled from data sent by more than 300 NHS trusts PCTs in England and from some independent sector organisations for activity commissioned by the English NHS. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care liaises closely with these organisations to encourage submission of complete and valid data and seeks to minimise inaccuracies. While this brings about improvement over time, some shortcomings remain. Source:  Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), The NHS Information Centre for health and social care 
		
	
	
		
			 PCT of r  esidence 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 
			 Total 8,087 9,130 9,981 10,391 
			 Craven, Harrogate and Rural District PCT 2,532 2,693 2,704 2,913 
			 Hambleton and Richmondshire PCT 1,036 1,575 1,892 1,799 
		
	
	
		
			 Scarborough, Whitby and Ryedale PCT 1,794 1,723 1,827 1,717 
			 Selby and York PCT 2,725 3,138 3,557 3,962

Cord Blood

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what recent assessment he has made of the cost-effectiveness of umbilical cord blood transplant;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the cost per quality-adjusted life year associated with (a) autologous stem cell transplants, (b) allogeneic stem cell transplants from an adult donor and (c) umbilical cord blood transplants in the latest period for which figures are available;
	(3)  what the average cost to the public purse was of performing an umbilical cord blood transplant on (a) a child and (b) an adult in the latest period for which figures are available.

Anne Milton: The Department of Health published the UK Stem Cell Strategic Forum report entitled “The Future of Unrelated Donor Stem Cell Transplantation in the UK” on 1 December 2010, a copy has already been placed in the Library and is also available at:
	www.nhsbt.nhs.uk/pdf/uk_stem_cell_strategic_forum_report.pdf
	The approximate costs of transplantation, including stem cell procurement and post-haemopoietic stem cell transplantation care appear on page 48 of the report.

Departmental Labour Turnover

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people have been (a) recruited and (b) made redundant from (i) his Department and (ii) each non-departmental body for which he is responsible since May 2010.

Simon Burns: There has been one permanent appointment to the Department of Health since the introduction of a recruitment freeze as part of the coalition Government’s efficiency measures on 24 May 2010. In addition, there have been 54 temporary appointments. These were 24 secondments and 30 fixed term appointments.
	18 fast streamers have been recruited by the Cabinet Office and been deployed to the Department since 24 May 2010.
	The Department has not made any civil servant redundant since May 2010. However, we ran a voluntary exit scheme in January 2011 where 263 staff were offered early exit terms and have also released 16 staff on pre-2010 terms under the principal civil service compensation scheme.
	The Department has 18 arms length bodies (ALBs) that are subject to the Government’s external recruitment freeze. The following table contains the figures for all ALBs.
	
		
			 ALB Number of people recruited since 24 May 2010 Number of people made redundant since 24 May 2010 
			 Alcohol Education and Research Council 0 0 
			 Appointments Commission(1) 2 8 
			 Care Quality Commission(1) 0 123 
			 Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence(1) 1 0 
			 General Social Care Council(1) 40 4 
			 The Health and Social Care Information Centre(2) 7 9 
			 Health Protection Agency(1) 249 32 
			 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority(1) . 4 0 
			 Human Tissue Authority(1) 0 0 
			 Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency(3) 22 1 
			 Monitor—Independent Regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts(1) 34 0 
			 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence(2) 73 10 
			 National Patient Safety Agency(2) 16 63 
			 National Treatment Agency(2) 9 0 
			 NHS Blood and Transplant(2) 586 112 
			 NHS Business Services Authority(2) 103 209 
			 NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement(2) 16 2 
			 NHS Litigation Authority(2) 0 12 
			 (1)Non-Departmental Public Body (2) Special Health Authority (3) Executive Agency

Departmental Redundancy

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much (a) his Department and (b) each non-departmental body for which he is responsible has spent on redundancies since May 2010.

Simon Burns: The Department has not made any civil servant redundant since May 2010. However, we ran a voluntary exit scheme in January 2011, and have also released a small number of staff on pre-2010 terms under the principal civil service compensation scheme.
	The total cost of these pre-2010 terms exits between May 2010 and the end of the 2010-11 financial year was £492,039 for initial (year 1) costs and £790,627 set aside to cover future years’ annual compensation payments.
	The costs of the January 2011 exit scheme totalled £19,373,071, all accounted for in the 2010-11 financial year.
	There has been no central departmental spend so far on exits in 2011-12.
	The Department has 18 arms length bodies (ALBs), of which some are not non- departmental public bodies. The following table contains information about the cost of redundancies for all ALBs.
	
		
			 ALB Cost of Redundancies since 24 May 2010 (£) 
			 Alcohol Education and Research Council(1) 0 
			 Appointments Commission(1) 422,992 
			 Care Quality Commission(1) 9,160,707 
			 Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence(1) 0 
			 General Social Care Council(1) 35,976 
			 The Health and Social Care Information Centre(2) 250,533 
			 Health Protection Agency(1) 748,000 
			 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority(1) 0 
			 Human Tissue Authority(1) 0 
			 Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency(3) 5,409 
			 Monitor—Independent Regulator of NHS Foundation Trusts(1) 0 
			 National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence(2) 544,211 
			 National Patient Safety Agency(2) 2,583,000 
			 National Treatment Agency(2) 0 
			 NHS Blood and Transplant(2) 4,584,000 
			 NHS Business Services Authority(2) 8,600,000 
			 NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement(2) 37,502 
			 NHS Litigation Authority(2) 147,005 
			 (1 )Non-departmental public bodies (2 )Special health authorities (3 )Executive agency

Genito-urinary Medicine: Consultants

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many genito-urinary medicine consultants there are in each NHS hospital trust.

Anne Milton: The number of genito-urinary medicine consultants by NHS trust as of 30 September 2010 is contained in the following table.
	
		
			 Hospital and community health services: medical consultants in the genito-urinary medicine specialty by national health service trust, as at 30 September 2010 
			   Number (headcount) 
			 England  350 
			    
			 5C1 Enfield Primary Care Trust (PCT) 2 
			 5C9 Haringey Teaching PCT 3 
			 5D8 North Tyneside PCT 2 
			 5F7 Stockport PCT 1 
			 5HG Ashton, Leigh and Wigan PCT 1 
			 5HP Blackpool PCT 2 
			 5HQ Bolton PCT 4 
			 5J9 Darlington PCT 1 
			 5K7 Camden PCT 7 
			 5L1 Southampton City PCT 4 
			 5LG Wandsworth PCT 2 
			 5LH Tameside and Glossop PCT 1 
			 5MD Coventry Teaching PCT 3 
			 5MX Heart of Birmingham Teaching PCT 7 
			 5N9 Lincolnshire Teaching PCT 1 
			 5NF North Lancashire Teaching PCT 1 
			 5NP Central and Eastern Cheshire PCT 4 
			 5P8 Hastings and Rother PCT 1 
			 5PF Sandwell PCT 1 
			 5PL Worcestershire PCT 2 
			 5PT Suffolk PCT 2 
			 5PY South West Essex PCT 3 
			 5QG Berkshire East PCT 3 
			 5QT Isle of Wight NHS PCT 1 
			 5QV Hertfordshire PCT 2 
			 NNF City Health Care Partnership 3 
			 RA3 Weston Area Health NHS Trust 1 
			 RA9 South Devon Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 1 
			 RAE Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 3 
			 RAJ Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 2 
			 RAL Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust 2 
			 RAS The Hillingdon Hospital NHS Trust 3 
			 RAX Kingston Hospital NHS Trust 3 
			 RBA Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust 2 
			 RBD Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 1 
			 RBK Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust 2 
		
	
	
		
			 RBN St Helens and Knowsley Hospitals NHS Trust 1 
			 RBT Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 1 
			 RBZ Northern Devon Healthcare NHS Trust 1 
			 RC1 Bedford Hospital NHS Trust 2 
			 RC3 Ealing Hospital NHS Trust 3 
			 RC9 Luton and Dunstable Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 2 
			 RCB York Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 2 
			 RCX The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King's Lynn NHS Trust 1 
			 RD1 Royal United Hospital Bath NHS Trust 2 
			 RD8 Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 2 
			 RDE Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust 1 
			 RDU Frimley Park Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 2 
			 RDZ The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 3 
			 REF Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust 4 
			 RF4 Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust 3 
			 RFF Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 3 
			 RFR The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust 2 
			 RFS Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 2 
			 RFW West Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust 2 
			 RGC Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust 4 
			 RGN Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 2 
			 RGP James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 3 
			 RGT Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 2 
			 RHQ Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 7 
			 RHU Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust 3 
			 RHW Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust 2 
			 RJ1 Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust 13 
			 RJ2 The Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust 1 
			 RJ6 Mayday Healthcare NHS Trust 3 
			 RJ7 St George's Healthcare NHS Trust 5 
			 RJC South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust 2 
			 RJD Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust 1 
			 RJE University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust 2 
			 RJF Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 2 
			 RJL Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 1 
			 RJR Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 2 
			 RJZ King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 9 
			 RK5 Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 3 
			 RK9 Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust 4 
			 RL4 The Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust 3 
			 RLT George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust 2 
			 RM1 Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 3 
			 RM2 University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust 2 
		
	
	
		
			 RN3 Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 3 
			 RN5 Basingstoke and North Hampshire NHS Foundation Trust 1 
			 RNA The Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 1 
			 RNH Newham University Hospital NHS Trust 4 
			 RNJ Barts and The London NHS Trust 7 
			 RNZ Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust 2 
			 RP1 Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 3 
			 RP5 Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 1 
			 RPA Medway NHS Foundation Trust 2 
			 RQ6 Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust 5 
			 RQ8 Mid Essex Hospital Services NHS Trust 1 
			 RQM Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 19 
			 RQW The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust 1 
			 RQX Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust 5 
			 RR1 Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust 4 
			 RR8 Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust 5 
			 RTG Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 2 
			 RTH Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust 2 
			 RTK Ashford and St Peter's Hospitals NHS Trust 2 
			 RTR South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 3 
			 RV8 North West London Hospitals NHS Trust 4 
			 RVL Barnet and Chase Farm Hospitals NHS Trust 2 
			 RVR Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust 2 
			 RVY Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust 1 
			 RW3 Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 7 
			 RW6 Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust 4 
			 RWE University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust 4 
			 RWF Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust 2 
			 RWG West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust 4 
			 RWW Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 2 
			 RWY Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust 2 
			 RX1 Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust 3 
			 RXF Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust 1 
			 RXH Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust 8 
			 RXK Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust 2 
			 RXP County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust 4 
			 RXQ Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust 1 
			 RXR East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust 1 
			 RYJ Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust 17 
			 RYQ South London Healthcare NHS Trust 4 
		
	
	
		
			 RYR Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust 4 
			 Notes: 1. The new headcount methodology for 2010 data is not fully comparable with previous years data due to improvements that make it a more stringent count of absolute staff numbers, Further information on the headcount methodology is available in the Census publication. Headcount totals are unlikely to equal the sum of components. 2. Data quality. The NHS Information Centre for health and social care seeks to minimise inaccuracies and the effect of missing and invalid data but responsibility for data accuracy lies with the organisations providing the data. Methods are continually being updated to improve data quality. Where changes impact on figures already published, this is assessed but unless it is significant at national level figures are not changed. Impact at detailed or local level is footnoted in relevant analyses. Source: The NHS Information Centre for health and social care Medical and Dental Workforce Census

Health Services

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many proposed reconfigurations of local health services he has approved on the basis of (a) quality and (b) safety since May 2010; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  in respect of which hospitals he has agreed to the reconfiguration of local acute health services since May 2010; and which services have been (a) discontinued, (b) downgraded and (c) reconfigured at each such hospital.

Simon Burns: Reconfiguration of local health services is a matter for the local national health service.
	Since May 2010, the Secretary of State for Health, the right hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr Lansley), has asked the Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) to review 10 referrals to him from local overview and scrutiny committees who have contested changes to local health services. Of those 10 referrals, the Secretary of State for Health has accepted IRP advice on eight. He has yet to make a decision on the two remaining referrals.
	Full details of local proposals for change, individual referrals from those overview and scrutiny committees, together with the panel's advice to the Secretary of State for Health can be found at:
	www.irpanel.org.uk/view.asp?id=56
	Any changes to NHS services must be to ensure patients get the best care possible, delivered to the highest standards.

Health Services: Greater London

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he plans to publish the report and recommendations of the Independent Reconfiguration Panel into the Barnet, Enfield and Haringey proposals for health services; and if he will make a statement.

Simon Burns: The Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) has now submitted its report on the proposals set down in the Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Clinical Strategy to the Secretary of State for Health.
	The IRP will publish its report on its website once the Secretary of State for Health, my right hon. Friend the Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr Lansley) has, in due course, fully considered the report’s recommendations and made his final decision public.

Health Services: Negligence

Daniel Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department is taking to address clinical negligence by health professionals in the UK who are not British nationals.

Anne Milton: All statutorily regulated health professionals, regardless of their nationality or country of origin, are subject to the standards of performance and conduct as set by their regulatory body. Where individuals fall short of these standards the regulatory bodies can investigate and consider whether fitness to practise action is required.
	In addition, employers and organisations that contract with health professionals also have a key role in making sure that those they engage have suitable skills to carry out the duties expected of them safely. Should the performance of such professionals, regardless of their nationality or country of origin, not meet acceptable standards then they have a duty to take appropriate action.
	The role of the Responsible Officer, introduced by Parliament in January 2011, is an important statutory role in evaluating the fitness to practise of individual doctors. They will play a key role in supporting all doctors to improve the quality of care they provide and in ensuring that prompt action is taken in the small number of cases where concerns arise about the practice of individual doctors.
	Medical Revalidation, which the General Medical Council is planning to introduce in late 2012, subject to a test of readiness, will provide a mechanism to re-affirm that doctors are up to date and fit to practice. Structured annual appraisals will underpin the revalidation process and these appraisals will be based on evidence from the doctor, colleagues, patients and local clinical governance systems.

Health Visitors: Training

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure health visitors have training in the identification of autism as part of his proposed health and development review.

Anne Milton: The content and standard of healthcare training is the responsibility of the independent regulatory bodies.
	Through their role as the custodians of quality standards in education and practice, these organisations are committed to ensuring high quality patient care delivered by high quality health professionals and that healthcare professionals are equipped with the knowledge, skills and behaviours required to deal with the problems and conditions they will encounter in practice.
	In order to achieve the best possible outcomes for training in the identification of autism, for both staff and patients alike we are working closely with the Nursing Midwifery Council, the independent regulatory body responsible for quality assuring health visitor education and the further and higher education sectors to review the training requirements of educational programmes.
	The “Health Visitor Implementation Plan 2011-15, A Call to Action”; sets out our intention to improve the quality of health visiting services for children and families. A copy has already been placed in the Library.

HIV Infection: Lancashire

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what action his Department is taking to reduce the number of late diagnoses of HIV in (a) East Lancashire and (b) Pendle.

Anne Milton: We understand that NHS East Lancashire has taken steps to improve early diagnosis of HIV, with a training scheme in general practice to raise awareness of HIV symptoms. This has lead to an increase in HIV testing.
	The Department has also been taking action to reduce undiagnosed and late diagnosis of HIV. We invested £750,000 in eight pilot projects in high prevalence areas looking at new approaches to HIV testing in primary care, non-specialist hospital settings and community social settings.
	On 1 December, the Health Protection Agency published an interim report, ‘Time to test for HIV: Expanded healthcare and community HIV testing in England’, on their review of these pilots. A copy of the report has been placed in the Library.
	In 2011 the Department has also funded the Medical Foundation for AIDS and Sexual Health to produce an innovative web-based resource pack, for use in educating and supporting primary care professionals to increase rates of HIV testing.

HIV Infection: Pendle

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people in Pendle were diagnosed with HIV in each of the last five years.

Anne Milton: The information is not available in the format requested. The available information is shown in the following table.
	Individuals newly diagnosed with HIV in East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust; New HIV diagnoses by year of diagnosis, 2006-2010.
	
		
			  Year of diagnosis 
			  2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 
			 HIV diagnoses 11 14 21 23 17 
			 Notes: 1. These data represent new HIV diagnoses made in East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust which includes but is not limited to the borough of Pendle. It is not possible to present new HIV diagnosis data at local authority level. The geographical region presented relates to area of diagnosis and does not necessarily reflect patient residence. 2. Patients may live with HIV for many years before they are diagnosed. Therefore new diagnosis data do not necessarily reflect recently acquired infections. Diagnoses are from reports received to end December 2010. Numbers will rise as further reports are received.

Learning Disability

Graeme Morrice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he plans to take in relation to the recommendations of the report by Professor Jim Mansell entitled Raising our Sights.

Paul Burstow: The written ministerial statement on 10 February 2011, Official Report, columns 15-16WS, announced the Government's response to Professor Mansell's report, “Raising our Sights: Services for Adults with Profound Intellectual and Multiple Disabilities”. We accept and support the conclusions of the report, which was commissioned by the Department.
	The elements of good service and good practice examples included in this report sit very clearly within the programme of work which the Government are leading to support independent living for people with learning disabilities, and to support local service planning and commissioning to meet identified needs in their locality.
	I announced on 7 June 2011, Official Report, columns 13-15WS, that I have asked officials to draw together the key lessons from the reviews being undertaken by the Care Quality Commission, the national health service and safeguarding boards into the events at Winterbourne View hospital. The recommendations of the Mansell report will be addressed within that work and Professor Mansell is assisting the Department in the examination of the issues.
	On 4 March 2011, Official Report, column 49WS, a written ministerial statement announced continued Government support to help improve the health and lives of people with learning disabilities:
	Extending the Department's contract with the Norah Fry Research Centre for a further two years to March 2013 to run a confidential inquiry into the premature and avoidable deaths of people with learning disabilities.
	Continued support by the Department for a further two years to March 2013 of a public health observatory service in relation to people with learning disabilities, currently hosted by North East Public Health Observatory.
	Continued funding by the Department in 2011-12 of up to £200,000 to support the work of the National Forum for People with Learning Difficulties and the National Valuing Families Forum. The Fora have a key role in helping Government understand the issues and challenges that people with learning disabilities and their families and carers face.

NHS: Pensions

Daniel Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will estimate the expenditure of his Department on (a) employer contributions to NHS pensions and (b) outlays on NHS pension scheme (i) if there were no changes to levels of contributions, (ii) if there were no changes to final salary pension schemes, (iii) if there were no changes to the retirement age and (iv) if pensions were linked to the retail prices index in each year from 2010-11 to 2015-16.

Simon Burns: The following table sets out actual and estimated employer contributions to the NHS Pensions Agency for the period 2010-11 to 2015-16 based on information presented in the Office of Budgetary Responsibility's Spring Economic and Fiscal Outlook 2011. These figures are based on if there were no changes to levels of contributions, no changes to final salary pension schemes and no changes to retirement age.
	
		
			  Actual (£000) Forecast (£ billion) 
			  2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 
			 Employer contributions 5,553,234 5.5 5.6 5.8 5.9 6.1 
			 Forecast expenditure 6,931,349 7.1 7.7 8.1 8.7 9.3 
		
	
	These figures include the effects of indexation based on consumer price index (CPI) as the measure of inflation for forecast expenditure. The use of the retail price index (RPI) would increase expenditure in these years as currently the RPI is higher than that of the CPI and therefore using RPI for indexation purposes would increase the level of expenditure forecast for these years.
	Discussions of other changes to public service pensions with trades unions are ongoing and as such changes to the employer contribution rate proposed changes to final salary pensions and proposed changes to the retirement age, have not been incorporated into the forecast.

Telemedicine

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  pursuant to the answer of 13 June 2011, Official Report, column 651W, on telemedicine, what the timetable is for publication of the (a) analysis and (b) findings of the Whole System Demonstrator programme;
	(2)  what the reasons are for the time taken to publish the findings of the Whole System Demonstrator programme; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  when he plans to publish the reports on the outcomes of the Whole System Demonstrator programme; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Burstow: Recruiting over 6,000 people to the Whole System Demonstrator programme took considerable time and effort. The study itself is focused on five detailed themes making it what we believe to be the largest randomised control trial of telehealth and telecare in the world. The result has been considerable amounts of data that are currently undergoing detailed analysis, to be followed by peer review.
	As soon as that analysis and review is completed, the results will be made public and the Department can assess what further action is appropriate.

Animal Experiments: Dogs

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether she plans to require companies building new facilities for breeding dogs for use in scientific procedures to comply with (a) UK Codes of Practice for housing and care and (b) standards set out in European Directive 2010/63/EU.

Lynne Featherstone: Under standard condition 2 applicable to certificates of designation granted under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, designated breeding and supplying establishments must ensure that the areas of the establishment approved for the housing of protected animals are maintained to at least the standards set out in the Home Office Code of Practice for the Housing and Care of Animals in Designated Breeding and Supplying Establishments except where variations are authorised by the Secretary of State.
	Standard condition 9 requires that in accordance with the Code of Practice for the Housing and Care of Animals used in Scientific Procedures, all protected animals must at ail times be provided with adequate care and accommodation appropriate to their type or species. Any restrictions on the extent to which such an animal can satisfy its physiological and ethological needs shall be kept to the absolute minimum; and the health and well-being of protected animals, and the environmental conditions in all parts of the establishment where protected animals are kept, shall be checked at least once daily by competent persons. Arrangements shall be made to ensure that any suffering or defect discovered is remedied as quickly as possible.
	The mandatory standards of housing and care of animals set out in Annex III to European Directive 2010/63/EU must be implemented from 1 January 2013. Standard conditions will be reviewed to take account of these requirements when the new Directive is transposed into United Kingdom legislation.

Chief Coroner

Tessa Jowell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what evidence her Department holds on the financial effects on her Department over each of the next five years of appointing a Chief Coroner with the functions provided for by the Coroner and Justice Act 2009.

Damian Green: holding answer 11 July 2011
	The Department holds no evidence of the financial effects of the chief coroner on the Home Office. The cost of appointing a chief coroner would fall to the Ministry of Justice.

Defence and Security Equipment International: Police

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of policing the Defence and Security Equipment International Exhibition between 13 and 16 September 2011.

Nick Herbert: The Secretary of State for the Home Department, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), has not made an estimate of the cost of policing this event, as this is a matter for the Metropolitan police. Forces are able to apply for a special grant from the Home Office for policing operations in cases where the event is exceptional and unforeseen, subject to the costs meeting certain criteria. No special grant application has been received in relation to this exhibition.

Driving Offences: Fines

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many fixed penalty notices were issued for vehicle insurance offences in each police authority area in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how many fixed penalty notices were issued for vehicle registration and excise offences in each police authority area in each of the last five years.

James Brokenshire: Available data from 2005 to 2009 (latest published data) are provided in the table.
	Data for 2010 is scheduled for publication April 2012.
	
		
			 Number of substantive fixed penalty notices issued for various offences, by police force area, England and Wales 2005-09 
			 Offence description Vehicle insurance offences Vehicle registration and excise licence offences 
			 Police force area 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 
			 Avon and Somerset(1) 63 115 289 0 420 7,537 8,020 10,362 8,248 7,861 
			 Bedfordshire 62 154 9 0 0 353 360 495 424 208 
			 Cambridgeshire 53 138 193 321 335 1,017 1,455 1,138 1,189 933 
			 Cheshire 101 203 137 106 319 1,445 1,112 1,630 1,743 1,412 
		
	
	
		
			 Cleveland 159 102 100 113 137 731 424 655 502 347 
			 Cumbria 0 0 0 0 0 170 196 279 411 251 
			 Derbyshire 0 112 314 182 250 433 497 613 815 401 
			 Devon and Cornwall 42 80 169 201 301 8,145 10,775 10,914 7,169 6,261 
			 Dorset 0 0 323 498 601 143 241 588 897 1,008 
			 Durham 7 13 1 0 0 109 200 127 211 104 
			 Essex 6 362 790 935 1,081 158 475 1,255 1,409 1,269 
			 Gloucestershire 0 3 163 140 192 51 118 191 83 156 
			 Greater Manchester 13 3 2 0 0 2,029 2,886 5,084 6,081 2,318 
			 Hampshire 125 393 635 858 1,087 2,371 3,189 3,096 2,342 1,568 
			 Hertfordshire 389 532 776 849 1,167 3,299 1,069 3,705 1,985 1,989 
			 Humberside 0 0 0 0 0 740 989 1,366 2,305 873 
			 Kent 31 249 303 256 473 1,505 1,699 1,905 1,894 1,551 
			 Lancashire 174 409 739 1,028 1,079 2,162 1,672 1,565 2,158 1,667 
			 Leicestershire 19 212 336 276 308 112 1,073 1,251 801 850 
			 Lincolnshire 0 46 28 44 95 1,031 1,729 1,029 1,111 589 
			 London, City of 9 51 37 38 51 1,989 1,849 1,318 1,057 693 
			 Merseyside 0 102 206 444 1,009 526 471 833 2,267 1,681 
			 Metropolitan Police 490 1,408 2,638 2,348 2,172 3,654 4,926 5,270 5,335 3,429 
			 Norfolk 0 1 111 376 523 176 339 399 699 574 
			 North Yorkshire 92 121 147 240 285 877 880 1,027 1,221 1,457 
			 Northamptonshire 93 74 107 171 336 1,455 624 406 298 280 
			 Northumbria 4 12 33 25 64 15,761 13,846 6,200 3,004 840 
			 Nottinghamshire 101 162 154 139 146 1,187 1,124 1,197 915 720 
			 South Yorkshire 0 0 141 482 676 1,080 1,136 1,515 1,433 1,706 
			 Staffordshire 152 274 389 435 783 2,136 1,802 1,370 1,385 968 
			 Suffolk 0 95 296 756 549 561 792 965 1,004 915 
			 Surrey 0 12 36 440 436 581 1,008 554 1,797 1,640 
			 Sussex 0 115 491 820 1,065 60 554 1,052 1,091 1,366 
			 Thames Valley 0 0 673 875 730 746 414 2,081 1,436 1,015 
			 Warwickshire 70 146 173 167 290 773 527 413 391 401 
			 West Mercia 32 281 375 515 440 1,158 1,310 1,287 1,383 1,017 
			 West Midlands 0 3 14 95 210 662 735 916 1,918 1,270 
			 West Yorkshire 104 328 809 1,021 1,178 1,559 1,690 2,658 2,367 2,228 
			 Wiltshire 0 141 367 554 489 380 578 789 945 1,096 
			 England 2,391 6,452 12,504 15,748 19,277 68,862 72,784 77,498 71,724 54,912 
			            
			 Dyfed-Powys 0 0 0 153 197 218 299 275 384 414 
			 Gwent(2) 0 0 53 181 281 377 682 460 647 709 
			 North Wales 297 200 403 306 290 2,077 1,337 1,678 1,137 1,033 
			 South Wales 0 0 0 0 0 166 458 337 632 397 
			 Wales 297 200 456 640 768 2,838 2,776 2,750 2,800 2,553 
			            
			 England and Wales 2,688 6,652 12,960 16,388 20,045 71,700 75,560 80,248 74,524 57,465 
			 (1) Figure for vehicle insurance offences for 2008 to be reviewed. (2) Figure for vehicle insurance offences for 2008 revised since original publication.

National Public Order Intelligence Unit

Julian Huppert: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will instruct Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary, as part of its inquiry into how intelligence that supports the policing of protest involving criminal activity is prioritised, gathered, assessed and managed by the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU), 
	(1)  to examine and report on (a) the role of the NPOIU in the disclosure of evidence critical to a defence, (b) the time at which evidence critical to a defence was received by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and (c) the nature of discussions between the NPOIU and the CPS on the (i) timing and (ii) appropriateness of such disclosure;
	(2)  to examine and report on the policy of supervising officers on (a) sexual activity and (b) illegal drug use by undercover officers;
	(3)  to examine and report on the policy of the NPOIU on the use of undercover officers in relation to groups which do not espouse or practice violence; and if she will make a statement on her policy on such matters.

James Brokenshire: holding answer 7 July 2011
	In January 2011, Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary (HMIC) announced that it would carry out a review of the work conducted by the National Domestic Extremism Units, including consideration of how they manage intelligence. The terms of reference for the review have been published on their website. The Home Office will consider conclusions of the review in due course.
	The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is carrying out a separate independent investigation into disclosure issues around specific cases. The Director of Public Prosecution has also commissioned a separate review of the Crown Prosecution Service decisions on this specific case.

North Yorkshire Police: Manpower

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many full-time equivalent (a) police officers, (b) police community support officers and (c) police civilian staff were employed by North Yorkshire Police Force in (i) May 2010 and (ii) the latest period for which figures are available.

James Brokenshire: Figures are not collected for May 2010. As at 31 March 2010, there were 1,486 police officers, 198 police community support officers and 1,158 police civilian staff employed in the North Yorkshire police force.
	The latest published figures show that as at 30 September 2010, there were 1,452 police officers, 187 police community support officers and 1,153 police civilian staff employed in the North Yorkshire police force.
	These figures are full-time equivalent figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number.

Police

David Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the average daily proportion of time spent on patrol by police officers in each of the last 10 years.

James Brokenshire: The measure of patrol refers only to time when an officer is patrolling but engaged in no other duty. Activity (such as advice to a member of the public) carried out while on patrol is recorded separately. The percentage of time spent on patrol therefore appears low and it is misleading to look at this element in isolation from other activities. Under this measure, officers spent 13.8% of their time on patrol in 2007-08 (the last year for which data is available) compared with between 13.6% and 15.3% in the four preceding years.
	Data were not collected before 2003 and have not been collected since 2007-08.
	The estimated proportion of time spent on patrol by officers over the course of a two week period police are given in the following table.
	
		
			 Year  (1) Time spent on patrol  (2)   (percentage) 
			 2003-04(3) 14.20 
			 2004-05 15.30 
			 2005-06 14.00 
			 2006-07 13.60 
			 2007-08(4) 13.80 
			 (1) Data were not collected before 2003. The information is taken from activity analysis, which is collected by all forces over a two-week period in each year and provides a snapshot of how officers are deployed. (2) Includes officers on foot/car/beat patrol, CID and traffic officers. (3) Data were not collected before 2003. (4 )Excluding Staffordshire.

Terrorism: Greater London

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she plans to publish her response to Lady Justice Hallett's report under rule 43 of the Coroner's Rules 1984 relating to the Coroner's inquests into the London bombings of 7 July 2005; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: Under the Coroners Rules 1984, it is for the Coroner to provide a copy of the Government response to the Lord Chancellor and to any person she has designated an Interested Person in the inquests' proceedings. It is also for her to provide it to anyone who she believes may find it useful or of interest. It is then for the Lord Chancellor to consider publishing the responses to the inquests report, including the Government response.
	Under these rules, I cannot make any substantive statement on the response until publication, but once this has taken place the Secretary of State for the Home Department, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), will make a statement to the House.

Travel Requirements

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussion she has had with the Northern Ireland Executive on changes to limits on travel within the EU and the implications of any such change for travel to and from the Irish Republic.

Damian Green: The Secretary of State for the Home Department, my right hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May), has not had any discussions with the Northern Ireland Executive on this issue.

UK Border Agency: Redundancy

Steve Rotheram: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the potential effects of proposed job reductions at the UK Border Agency on (a) levels of illegal immigration and (b) other security threats at UK borders.

Damian Green: The priority of the UK Border Agency (UKBA) remains to secure the border and to control migration while it plays its part in reducing the public deficit. The Agency will be smaller, but more efficient, and we believe it will still be able to deliver its commitments. This is set out in the Agency's Business Plan. UKBA Business Plan 2011-15.

Departmental Manpower

John Redwood: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many people have been (a) recruited and (b) made redundant from (i) his Department and (ii) each non-departmental body for which he is responsible since May 2010.

Francis Maude: All Departments and their non-departmental bodies are subject to the civil service-wide freeze on external recruitment. By exception only, after ministerial approval is given, Departments may recruit externally to fill high priority, business critical vacancies. The numbers of staff recruited externally by the Cabinet Office and its non-departmental bodies during 2010-11 are as follows:
	Cabinet Office: 33
	The Boundary Commission: 0
	National School of Government: 2
	The Civil Service Commission: 0.
	Both the Commission for the Compact and Capacitybuilders ceased operations on 31 March 2011. Information on recruitment is no longer available for these organisations.
	The Cabinet Office's other NDPBs during 2010-11 are advisory bodies whose work is supported by Cabinet Office staff. Information is therefore included in figures for the Cabinet Office overall:
	Advisory Committee on Business Appointments
	Civil Service Appeal Board
	Committee on Standards in Public Life
	House of Lords Appointments Commission
	Main Honours Advisory Committee
	Office of the Third Sector Advisory Board
	Security Commission
	Security Vetting Appeals Panel
	Senior Salaries Review Body.
	Individual Departments and agencies are responsible for making civil servants redundant, and the information requested is not currently recorded centrally. However, Departments will be reporting information about the numbers and costs of their redundancies and other early exits in their Resource Accounts this year.
	New compensation terms were introduced in December 2010. Severance pay is now calculated on the basis of one month's pay per year of service to a maximum of 21 months pay on voluntary exits and a maximum of 12 month's pay on compulsory redundancy. Additional capping and tapering apply where individuals are over, or very close to, pension age. The changes were introduced to make the scheme more affordable.

Departmental Redundancy

John Redwood: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much (a) his Department and (b) each non-departmental body for which he is responsible has spent on redundancies since May 2010.

Francis Maude: Individual Departments and agencies are responsible for making civil servants redundant, and the information requested is not currently recorded centrally. However, Departments will be reporting information about the numbers and costs of their redundancies and other early exits in their Resource Accounts this year.
	New compensation terms were introduced in December 2010. Severance pay is now calculated on the basis of one month's pay per year of service to a maximum of 21 months pay on voluntary exits and a maximum of 12 month's pay on compulsory redundancy. Additional capping and tapering apply where individuals are over, or very close to, pension age. The changes were introduced to make the scheme more affordable.

Hewlett Packard: Department for Work and Pensions

Mary Glindon: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office whether he has had discussions with representatives of (a) Hewlett Packard and (b) trade unions on the company's applications to offshore elements of the Adams 2 contract with the Department for Work and Pensions; and when he expects a decision to be taken on this application.

Francis Maude: I have had no recent discussions with Hewlett Packard Enterprise Services (HPES) or trade unions on the application to transfer offshore elements of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) Adams 2 contract. The DWP has an existing contract for IT services with HPES which already makes provision for delivery of services from non-UK locations. DWP is currently in discussion with HPES regarding future Adams 2 plans. These discussions have not yet been concluded and specific proposals are not yet complete.

Africa: Marriage

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make representations to the Government of (a) Mali, (b) Benin, (c) Burkino Faso and (d) Niger on (i) raising the minimum legal age of marriage for women and (ii) setting equal minimum ages of marriage for men and women.

Andrew Mitchell: Investing in adolescent girls, including raising the age of marriage and first pregnancy, is at the heart of DFID’s strategic vision for girls and women.
	Whilst DFID does not have bilateral programmes or representation in these countries, we do provide support through multilateral programming. Together with the FCO and Home Office Joint Marriage Unit, we work with UN and EU partners, and bilaterally, to implement the UN convention on the rights of the child and. its two optional protocols, and encourage countries to fulfill their obligations.

Departmental Travel

Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much his Department spent on transport in each category of spending in the latest period for which figures are available.

Alan Duncan: As a Government Department delivering results in developing countries, the Department for International Development (DFID) has a number of offices abroad. This is in addition to DFID's headquarters being split between two locations; East Kilbride and London.
	DFID minimises travel costs as much as possible, for example by using video conferences where ever possible, and has this year reviewed its ministerial car service, opting for a more cost-effective alternative.
	In financial year 2010-11, the Department for International Development spent £5.2 million on travel. The Department introduced a new travel policy in 2010-11 which reduced costs by £3.2 million (38%) from the previous financial year 2009-10, where the total figure was £8.4 million.
	DFID's spending for the last two years for air, rail, mileage, taxis and the Government Car Scheme are detailed in the following table:
	
		
			 £000 
			 Category spend 2009-10 2010-11 
			 Air 7,292 4,298 
			 Rail 493 463 
			 Mileage 21 24 
			 Taxis 255 193 
			 Government Car Scheme 355 212 
			 Total 8,416 5,190

Developing Countries: Marriage

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether he plans to encourage countries in receipt of financial support from his Department to (a) set and enforce a minimum legal age of marriage and (b) reduce the proportion of women who marry before the age of 18 years.

Andrew Mitchell: The Department for International Development (DFID) is committed to protecting and promoting human rights for all people, including children. In taking decisions on the provision of aid, DFID takes into consideration the country government's commitment to human rights.
	We work through our country programmes to support Governments to tackle early marriage. In Ethiopia, our support will delay marriage for 220,000 girls in two specific locations, with the vision to expand to the entire Amhara region, which has the highest rate of child marriage in Sub-Saharan Africa. We are also working with the Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs in Ethiopia to develop the Government's capacity to implement national programmes to tackle early marriage.
	Together with the FCO and Home Office Joint Forced Marriage Unit, we work with UN and EU partners, and bilaterally, to implement the UN convention on the rights of the child and its two optional protocols, and encourage countries to fulfill their obligations.

Overseas Aid

Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what the cost was of (a) the Department's aid reviews and (b) its operational plans.

Andrew Mitchell: I refer the hon. Member to my answer of 31 January 2011, Official Report, column 613W, which outlines the reviews I launched last year.
	The Government are determined to ensure that the aid budget is used effectively and delivers value for money for both the British tax payer and the world's poorest people. The Department for International Development's aid reviews will fundamentally change the way aid funds are spent in the future with a much clearer focus on results and value for money. After a comprehensive spending review, there is normally an allocation round which in this case, was replaced by a strategic review. This review is an essential part of Government business and an improvement on the previous arrangements.
	(a) The Bilateral Aid Review is estimated to have cost £137,000. The Multilateral Aid Review is estimated to have cost £72,300; the Humanitarian Emergency Response Review is estimated to have cost £269,220. These costs include visits to countries to gather information about the effectiveness on the ground and consult with key partners, external support and peer reviews where appropriate, and production of the reports. All of these were an essential part of ensuring a rigorous process. Staff across DFID also provided inputs into all three reviews.
	(b) There was no additional cost to the Department for its operational plans since these form part of the Department's normal business planning arrangements.

Biofuels: Aviation

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will assess the potential effects on carbon dioxide emissions of the commercial development and use of aircraft biofuels and biofuel jet fuel blends; and if he will make a statement.

Theresa Villiers: I have been asked to reply.
	The Government believes that sustainable biofuels have a role to play in reducing CO2 emissions from transport, particularly in sectors such as aviation where there are limited alternatives to fossil fuel.
	The Government are also working towards a co-ordinated, evidence-based bioenergy strategy, including an analysis of the best use of available biomass resources, and will soon be publishing an assessment of the costs and carbon reduction potential of biofuel use in aviation.
	As part of our development of a Sustainable Policy Framework for UK Aviation, the Department for Transport published a scoping document on 30 March 2011 that frames the debate on the future direction of aviation policy and asks a series of questions, including on use of biofuels in aviation. The responses to the scoping document will help to inform the development of a draft Framework, which we intend to publish for full public consultation in March 2012.

Conditions of Employment

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many meetings officials in his Department have had with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on the Government's employment law review since May 2011.

Gregory Barker: The Department for Energy and Climate Change does not have responsibility for employment-related legislation. However, in common with Partners across Government, we have been consulted throughout on the proposals for the Employment Law Review.

Departmental Procurement

John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the annual value is of his Department’s current contracts in each sector in which contracts are held.

Gregory Barker: DECC records payments by supplier not by contract and that the amounts in the following table relate to payments through the accounts payable system and exclude any payments that may have been made to contracted suppliers using government procurement cards (GPC). It would incur disproportionate costs to analyse GPC payments to identify which ones relate to contract suppliers.
	DECC’s 2010-11 spend is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Group spend (£ million) 
			 Corporate Supports Shared Services 33.6 
			 Energy and Climate Change International 0.9 
			 Energy Markets and Infrastructure 42.5 
			 National Climate Change and Consumer Support 12.1 
			 Science and Innovation Group 1.3 
			 Total 90.3

Electric Vehicles

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what effects his proposals for electricity market reform will have on support for the use of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Charles Hendry: The electricity market reforms are focused on achieving the investment we need to deliver the secure, affordable and low-carbon electricity we need. EMR does not specifically focus on the uptake of electric vehicles, however, the reforms set out in the White Paper will ensure that the electricity generation is in place to support their use. It is anticipated that electrification of the heat, transport and other carbon intensive sectors may lead to a doubling of overall electricity demand by 2050.
	In addition, as part of the White Paper, the Government are seeking views on how to ensure that non-generation technologies and approaches to providing capacity—which could include reducing demand at periods of system scarcity by charging electric vehicles when demand is low—could participate in a capacity mechanism on a fair and equal basis with electricity generation.

Electricity

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what consideration his Department has given to the likely need to revise the assumptions made in its consideration of reform of the electricity market in the case that the electricity market reform policies are classified as levies and subject to the Control Framework for DECC levy-funded Spending.

Charles Hendry: As set out in the consultation document published in December 2010, cost-effectiveness is a key criteria in developing the electricity market reform proposals. This includes affordability for consumers and implications for the public finances if the proposals are classified by the Office for National Statistics as tax and spend and are therefore subject to the DECC control framework for levy-funded spending.

Electricity: Finance

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change 
	(1)  when he expects the next National Grid Electricity Transmission system operator incentives to be brought forward;
	(2)  what discussions he has held with Ofgem on forthcoming National Grid Electricity Transmission system operator incentives;
	(3)  whether he has discussed with industry representatives forthcoming National Grid Electricity Transmission system operator incentives;
	(4)  what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the current National Grid Electricity Transmission system operator incentives;
	(5)  whether his Department plans to make a submission to Ofgem on forthcoming National Grid Electricity Transmission system operator incentives.

Charles Hendry: The Electricity Transmission System Operator Incentive Scheme is a matter for the independent energy regulator, Ofgem, in their role of regulating the monopoly companies which run the gas and electricity networks. The consultation on proposed changes to the incentive scheme closed on 8 July. Ofgem is currently in the process of finalising its position, which it will publish soon. While this is an important issue, it is one suited to the regulator to deal with due to its technical nature, concerning the detail of economic regulation. Therefore, while the Department is tracking developments, it is not actively involved in the details of the process.

Energy

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether he has made an assessment of the proportion of UK energy supply that will come from (a) renewable energy, (b) fossil fuel-based energy and (c) nuclear energy in 2020.

Charles Hendry: The proportion of UK energy supply that will come from different types of energy would depend on a number of variables including fossil fuel prices, technology costs and the carbon price. Different assumptions on those variables will lead to different energy mixes. The central scenario published in DECC's latest Energy and Emission projections using DECC central fossil fuel projections, carbon values as well as assumptions on technology costs is summarised in the following table:
	
		
			 Primary energy demand, central projection 2020 (percentage) 
			 Renewables and waste 13.6 
			 Nuclear 2.9 
			 Fossil fuels 83.1 
			 Imported electricity 0.4 
			 Source: Annex H, DECC Updated Energy and Emissions Projections, June 2010 
		
	
	This covers all use of energy products within the UK, including those used for heat, transport, electricity generation and non-energy uses. The figures are consistent with the UK's renewable energy target.
	In terms of fuels used for electricity generation, the central scenario using the same assumptions on fossil fuel prices, technology costs and carbon price for 2020 is:
	
		
			 All generators, central projection 2020 (percentage) 
			 Renewables and waste 30.5 
			 Nuclear 6.7 
			 Fossil fuels 56.7 
			 Other 6.1 
			 Source: Annex E, DECC Updated Energy and Emissions Projections, June 2010 
		
	
	This includes autogenerators and combined heat and power. The category 'other' includes imports and storage.
	The full results of the projections and assumptions are described in the 'Updated Energy and Emissions Projections' document
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/about/ec_social_res/analytic_projs/en_emis_projs/en_emis_projs.aspx
	DECC will published new energy and emission projections later this year.

Fossil Fuelled Power Stations

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the contribution of oil and gas-fired power stations to overall energy supply.

Charles Hendry: The contribution of oil and gas fired power stations cannot be measured in terms of overall energy supply, because this is measured in terms of primary fuel, whereas electricity generated from oil and gas is a secondary fuel.
	Of overall electricity generation, provisional 2010 data shows oil-fired generation contributed 0.9% and gas-fired generation contributed 46%. Final figures for 2010 will be published on 28 July 2011.
	Data from table ET 5.1, available at:
	http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/statistics/energy_stats/source/electricity/electricity.aspx

Natural Gas: Reserves

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the (a) gas and (b) shale gas reserves available in (i) Wales, (ii) each region of England, (iii) Scotland and (iv) Northern Ireland.

Charles Hendry: UK onshore proven conventional gas reserves, which are not broken down by region, are between 0.6-2.3 billion cubic metres (bcm).
	There are no proven shale gas reserves, because exploration for shale gas has only recently commenced in the UK and no commercial production has yet been demonstrated, so it is not currently possible to make an estimate of reserves.
	In a study for DECC, the British Geological Survey (BGS) had estimated that there could be potentially around 150 bcm of onshore UK shale gas resource potential (i.e. gas volumes that might be found by future exploration drilling). The BGS study is available on DECC’s oil and gas website via the following link:
	https://www.og.decc.gov.uk/upstream/licensing/shalegas.pdf
	DECC does not assess oil and gas reserves for Northern Ireland—this falls under the responsibilities of the Northern Ireland Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment.

North Sea Oil

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether his Department has a contingency plan in place in the event of a natural disaster in the North sea caused by oil spillage; and if he will make a statement.

Charles Hendry: As a party to the United Nations convention on the law of the sea, the United Kingdom has an obligation to protect and preserve the marine environment. The national contingency plan for marine pollution from shipping and offshore installations (NCP) is one of the measures the UK has taken to meet this obligation and the Department for Transport’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is the custodian of this plan. The NCP’s purpose is to ensure there is a timely and measured response to an oil pollution incident.
	The operators of offshore installations bear the primary responsibility for ensuring that they do not pollute the sea. However, offshore installations may face problems that exceed the response capabilities that they can reasonably maintain. Therefore, the MCA may need to use national assets in the response to a marine pollution incident. The NCP sets out the circumstances in which MCA deploys the UK’s national assets to respond to a marine pollution incident to protect the overriding public interest. It also describes how MCA manages these resources.
	As detailed above, operators of an offshore installation or oil handling facility are primarily responsible for ensuring that they do no pollute the sea. All such operators must have an oil pollution emergency plan in place. These plans set out the arrangements for responding to incidents with the potential to cause marine pollution by oil. The plans, which are site specific, are reviewed by DECC, MCA and relevant environmental consultees before approval by DECC. The NCP supports and underpins an operator’s individual oil pollution emergency plan.

North Sea Oil

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will assess the effects of oil spillages by private sector drilling companies in the North sea on potential for oil exploration in the Arctic; and if he will make a statement.

Charles Hendry: The UK has no regulatory jurisdiction in any part of Arctic waters. Decisions on licensing and exploration activities in Arctic waters are the responsibility of the relevant governments.
	That is not to say that the UK has no interest in what happens within the Arctic Circle, we are observers in the Arctic Council which has recently set up a taskforce to look at a binding agreement on oil pollution preparedness and response and we have indicated a willingness to contribute to the work of that group.

Wind Power

Daniel Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps his Department is taking to ensure sufficient stability in the market to facilitate private sector investment in offshore wind.

Charles Hendry: On 12 July the Department published its White Paper on electricity market reform, setting out an enduring framework for future investment in low carbon generation including offshore wind. Feed-in tariffs with Contracts for Difference will provide the necessary support and stable revenues to incentivise investment in low-carbon electricity generation at least cost to the consumer.
	We have also set out robust transitional arrangements for renewables so as to maintain stable conditions for renewables investments and to maintain industry confidence while the new market arrangements are implemented. These reforms, alongside the Renewables Roadmap (also published on 12 of July), fully demonstrate our continued commitment to renewable electricity generation.

Wind Power: Nature Conservation

Simon Hart: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment his Department has made of the impact of wind farm developments on (a) birds and (b) other wildlife.

Charles Hendry: Each wind farm developer is required to complete an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) as part of their planning consent application. This covers issues such as impacts on birds and wildlife and, for offshore wind, fish and marine mammals.
	For offshore wind, DECC undertakes a rolling programme of Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEAs) and has an ongoing programme of research to back up the conclusions. These include projects to assess the impact of wind farm developments on birds and wildlife. DECC consulted on the latest SEA Environmental Report(1) earlier this year. This concluded that at a strategic level, there were no overriding environmental considerations to prevent the achievement of up to 33GW of offshore wind in the Renewable Energy Zone and English and Welsh territorial waters. A post-consultation report is due to be published shortly.
	http://www.offshore-sea.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info. php?categoryID=39&documentID=5

A537: Closures

Andrew Bingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on how many occasions the A537 Cat and Fiddle Road between Buxton and Macclesfield has been closed in each of the last five years.

Norman Baker: This information is not held by the Department for Transport. The A53, A54 and A537 roads are the responsibility of Cheshire East council and Derbyshire county council as the relevant highway authorities. The closure of the roads and the collation of any statistics relating to those roads closures is a matter for them.

Air Traffic Control: Swanwick

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the monetary value in real terms was of the (a) original estimate and (b) final cost to the public purse of the air traffic control centre at Swanwick; and what additional costs, in real terms, have been incurred since its completion.

Theresa Villiers: I refer the hon. Member to page 11 of the National Audit Office's 2002 report "The Public Private Partnership for National Air Traffic Services Ltd", published on 24 July 2002. This report was made available in the Library of the House when it was published. This is also available online at:
	http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/0102/the_ppp_national_air_traffic.aspx

Air Travel Trust Fund

Michael Weir: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the adequacy of sanctions which can be applied to holders of Air Transport Organisers' Licences which cease to trade having breached the terms of the relevant licence.

Theresa Villiers: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) can prosecute businesses for certain breaches of The Civil Aviation (Air Travel Organisers' Licensing) Regulations 1995, as amended, including contravening the terms of an ATOL licence. Depending on the offence, on conviction this can lead to either (i) a fine of up to £3,000 or (ii) a fine of up to £5,000 or two years imprisonment or both.
	The CAA can also withdraw or refuse to grant or renew an ATOL licence if is not satisfied that a business is fit to hold one or it if is not satisfied with the financial resources the business has available.
	The consultation on ATOL reform published on 23 June 2011 seeks views on potential changes to the offences and sanctions for breach of the regulations.

Aviation

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 5 July 2011, Official Report, columns 87-88WS, on airport co-ordination (London Olympics), what estimate he has made of the potential change in the number of night flights at Heathrow between 21 July and 15 August 2012.

Theresa Villiers: It is not currently anticipated that there will be any change in the existing night movements limits for Heathrow airport during the summer 2012 season.

Aviation: Biofuels

Oliver Heald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  if he will assess the potential effects on (a) air transport and (b) airport capacity of the commercial development and use of aircraft biofuels and biofuel jet fuel blends; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  whether his Department was represented at the Paris Air Show; what assessment he made of the biofuel and biofuel jet fuel blend aircraft at the show; and if he will make a statement.

Theresa Villiers: The Government believe that sustainable biofuels have a role to play in reducing CO2 emissions from transport, particularly in sectors such as aviation where there are limited alternatives to fossil fuel. The Department is working with our European partners, the wider international community and industry to explore how to bring about a significant increase in the use of sustainable biofuels in aviation, but was not directly represented at the recent Paris Air Show.
	As part of our development of a Sustainable Policy Framework for UK Aviation, the Department for Transport published a scoping document on 30 March 2011 that frames the debate on the future direction of aviation policy and asks a series of questions, including on use of biofuels in aviation. The responses to the scoping document will help to inform the development of a draft framework, which we intend to publish for full public consultation in March 2012.

Aviation: Primates

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many primates were (a) killed and (b) injured while transiting (i) through UK airports and (ii) on UK registered airline carriers in the latest period for which figures are available.

Theresa Villiers: The Department does not hold statistics on the transport of primates through UK airports or on UK registered airline carriers.

Aviation: Security

Lee Scott: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent discussions his Department has had with airport operators on increasing the speed of security checks of passengers.

Theresa Villiers: Officials from the Department meet regularly with airport operators to discuss various issues, including the screening processes for passengers.
	The safety and security of the travelling public remains paramount in the design and implementation of airport security checks. We recently published proposals to improve the way aviation security in the UK is regulated, to encourage operators to deliver security in more passenger friendly ways.

Bus Services: Concessions

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many pensioners in (a) York Central constituency, (b) City of York, (c) North Yorkshire and (d) England (i) held a concessionary bus pass and (ii) were eligible for concessionary bus travel (A) in May 2010 and (B) at the latest date for which figures are available.

Norman Baker: The Department is not responsible for issuing bus passes and so does not maintain records of how many passes are held by concessionaires in individual local authority areas. As bus passes are issued by local authorities, the Department has no information regarding bus passes held in parliamentary constituencies.
	Population estimates from the Office for National Statistics show that in mid-2010, the latest period for which figures are available, there were 44,900 older people resident in the city of York, 166,700 in North Yorkshire and 11,746,500 resident in England who were of the eligible age for a bus pass. The Department does not hold information as to whether all those eligible people have taken up their entitlement to the bus travel concession. However, the National Travel Survey 2009 estimates that 76% of eligible older people took up their entitlement to bus passes.

Capita

Tristram Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many contracts his Department has awarded to Capita since May 2010; and what the (a) monetary value and (b) net worth was of each contract.

Norman Baker: The Department for Transport and its agencies has awarded two contracts to Capita since May 2010. In addition we have awarded a further two framework contracts which have a nil commitment value on expenditure. We have awarded 11 purchase orders from these and other pre existing framework contracts. The individual monetary values of these contracts and purchase orders are shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Contract/type/purchase order Individual monetary value (£) 
			 Contract 175,000 
			 Contract 59,769 
			 Framework Contract 0 
			 Framework Contract 0 
			 Purchase Order 150,000 
			 Purchase Order 104,702 
			 Purchase Order 19,080 
			 Purchase Order 18,736 
			 Purchase Order 32,244 
			 Purchase Order 722,555 
			 Purchase Order 97,543 
			 Purchase Order 109,906 
			 Purchase Order 240,917 
			 Purchase Order 284,758 
			 Purchase Order 18,021

Channel Tunnel Railway Line

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which companies have been contracted to construct rolling stock operating on the High Speed One rail link.

Theresa Villiers: holding answer 27 June 2011
	There are currently two operators using High Speed 1.
	Eurostar International, a stand alone business, currently operates 28 trainsets first introduced in 1994 and built by GEC-Alstom. Eurostar announced in October 2010 that they would be additionally purchasing 10 new trainsets from Siemens.
	London and South Eastern Railway Company operate 29 x 6 car units, manufactured by Hitachi, on the HS1 Domestic route, which were introduced in June 2009. In addition, Deutsche Bahn are looking at the commercial proposition to operate services on HS1 using Siemens manufactured trainsets.

Compensation

Richard Fuller: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 29 March 2011, Official Report, column 257W, on compensation, what steps he is taking to reduce the need for his Department's agencies and non-departmental public bodies to compensate the public for errors for which they were responsible.

Norman Baker: A number of approaches are being employed to reduce the incidence of official errors within the Department's agencies and non-departmental public bodies. Preventative measures, reviews and lessons learned differ across the Department, depending on the type of business transacted, they include the following measures:
	Prevention
	Customers are encouraged to obtain services online, reducing the risk that they do not receive the service they require.
	Services are designed so as to minimise the scope for errors, by building transparency into the process.
	Established quality management systems principles are used.
	A risk-based approach to prevention is employed, appropriate to the level of errors compared with turnover.
	Review and lessons learned
	Complaints handling functions are being centralised in order to increase understanding of customer complaints and compensation requests, in order to identify areas that require process improvements.
	Reviews are undertaken to ensure that lessons are learned and, where necessary, amended processes are communicated and shared to avoid a recurrence and the likelihood of compensation claims.
	Best practice and lessons learned are widely disseminated, both locally and also between the agencies.
	For unusual cases, legal or other advice is sought as appropriate.

Concessions: Pensioners

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many (a) pensioners and (b) disabled people in (i) York, (ii) Yorkshire and the Humber and (iii) England received free bus travel and concessions in each year since 2008; and what plans he has for the future of free bus travel in England for older and disabled people.

Norman Baker: The Department does not maintain records of how many people received the free bus travel concession in individual local authority areas or the breakdown by older people and disabled people. A survey is in progress to collect information at local authority level.
	Population estimates from the Office for National Statistics show the numbers of people of eligible age for a bus pass, from mid-year 2008 to mid-year 2010
	
		
			 Thousand 
			  2008 2009 2010 
			 City of York 43.4 44.1 44.9 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 1,149.4 1,169.8 1,189.0 
			 England 11,324.2 11,541.1 11,746.5 
		
	
	The Department does not hold information as to whether all those eligible people have taken up their entitlement to the bus travel concession. However, the National Travel Survey 2009 estimates that, nationally, 76% of eligible older people took up their entitlement to bus passes.
	The right to free bus travel for both older and disabled people is enshrined in primary legislation and, in last year's spending review, the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed the Government's commitment to protect the free bus travel concession.

Consultants

Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  whether his Department engaged external consultants as part of the review into measures to reduce the congestion caused by incidents; and what each such consultant was paid;
	(2)  what the cost was of the review into measures to reduce the congestion caused by incidents.

Michael Penning: The review into congestion caused by motorway incidents was produced in-house by the Department with support from Highways Agency colleagues; and the published report was produced using the Department's in-house reprographics unit. Consequently no consultancy or external publication expenditure was incurred.

Consultants

Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the cost was of the development of the new strategic framework for road safety; whether any external consultants were used as part of this review; and how much was paid to each such consultant.

Michael Penning: The Department did not use any consultants in the development of the new Strategic Framework for Road Safety. The Transport Research Laboratory provided updated forecasts and analysis at a cost of £14,091.52. There was a consultation exercise with stakeholders in the form of a series of workshops that were hosted and run, on behalf of the Department, by the Parliamentary Advisory Council on Transport Safety. The total cost of these was £6,360.32, which included the production of several think pieces and summaries following the events. 100 hard copies of the document were printed in-house. Due to the nature of the contract it is not possible to quantify the cost of an individual print job, but this was the least cost approach. The rest of the development work was undertaken by permanent members of staff as a part of their general road safety work. It is not possible to quantify this cost but as an illustration there was approximately one full time member of staff developing the document for nine months, with input from many others throughout the process.

Cycling

Tessa Munt: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans he has to promote cycling to work; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Baker: The Department has traditionally promoted both the Cycle to Work Scheme and the Cycle to Work Guarantee to employers, employees and other Government Departments through a number of departmental led promotions and projects. The Department also funds the National Business Travel Network (NBTN). NBTN launched a DfT part-funded ‘ways2work’ tool kit in November 2010 to help people and businesses work more efficiently. The tool kit includes a section on encouraging cycling to work.
	Most recently the Cycle to Work Scheme has been promoted through guidance to the members of the Physical Activity Network which is part of the Department for Health led Public Health Responsibility Deal. I have also provided a foreword in support of the Cycle to Work Alliance's Behavioural Impact Analysis.
	Finally, the results of bids for Tranche 1 of the Local Sustainable Transport Fund were released on 5 July 2011, many of which included elements relating to cycling to work.

Dartford-Thurrock Crossing: Automatic Number Plate Recognition

Gareth Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether the number plate recognition system proposed for the Dartford River Crossing is the same as the system used for the London Congestion Charge; and whether the system will be able to identify vehicles with non-UK number plates.

Michael Penning: The proposals for an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system are currently being considered as part of the preliminary design stage for a free-flow charging scheme at Dartford Crossing. It is expected that such a system will be similar to that used for the London congestion charging scheme, and should be capable of capturing the vehicle registration mark of most foreign vehicles.

Departmental Billing

John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many invoices received by his Department have been paid (a) on time and (b) late in each month since May 2010; and what the monetary value is of the invoices paid late.

Norman Baker: The majority of the contractual obligations negotiated with suppliers within DFT is to pay valid invoices received from suppliers within 30 days of receipt.
	The following table reflects the invoices received that were paid on time (within 30 days) and those that were paid late in each month since May 2010 for the DFT family (composed of the central Department and its seven Executive agencies). The table includes the monetary value of invoices paid on time and paid late (over 30 days) for the same period.
	
		
			 DFT family 
			  Number of invoices Monetary value (£) 
			  Paid in month Paid on time Not paid on time Paid on time Paid late 
			 2010      
			 May 18,294 18,198 96 335,590,702 4,808,015 
			 June 19,517 19,417 100 387,768,206 9,923,662 
			 July 18,989 18,891 97 327,029,601 9,402,201 
			 August 15,693 15,617 78 345,047,722 3,810,952 
			 September 17,075 17,000 72 305,054,805 9,855,466 
			 October 17,022 16,926 98 359,648,551 4,302,872 
			 November 16,703 16,660 43 314,083,194 373,153 
			 December 15,280 15,249 31 324,952,106 12,021,550 
			       
			 2011      
			 January 15,116 15,071 45 264,949,743 2,109,590 
			 February 15,669 15,631 38 264,464,874 1,886,523 
			 March 19,540 19,496 44 425,397,695 3,423,825 
			 April 15,092 15,059 33 359,988,396 1,551,364 
			 May 14,678 14,606 . 72 293,318,140 4,426,167 
			 Total 218,668 217,821 847 4,307,293,735 67,895,340 
		
	
	As the majority of contractual obligations are to pay within 30 days, payments not made in five days are not late payments. The Department is committed to paying within five days where appropriate.
	The following table reflects the invoices received that were paid within five days and those that were not paid within five days for the DFT family. It also includes the monetary value of invoices paid within five days and those paid outside of five days.
	
		
			 DFT family 
			  Number of invoices Monetary value (£) 
			  Paid in month Paid in five days Not paid in five days Paid   in five days Not p  aid   in five days 
			 2010      
			 May 18,294 14,284 4,010 241,643,071 99,175,486 
			 June 19,517 15,140 4,329 233,148,106 164,903,807 
			 July 18,989 15,957 3,050 248,809,491 86,996,013 
			 August 15,693 14,209 1,518 298,361,910 52,091,691 
			 September 17,075 15,825 1,250 281,772,641 32,280,964 
			 October 17,022 15,863 1,176 337,152,736 26,798,687 
			 November 16,703 15,748 955 282,743,742 31,712,605 
			 December 15,280 14,064 1,216 295,036,104 41,937,552 
			       
			 2011      
			 January 15,116 14,039 1,077 209,461,018 57,598,315 
			 February 15,669 14,860 809 209,586,170 56,765,227 
			 March 19,540 18,223 1,317 303,500,730 125,320,790 
			 April 15,092 13,968 1,124 303,941,253 57,598,507 
			 May 14,678 13,757 921 281,314,359 16,429,948 
			 Total 218,668 195,937 22,752 3,526,471,331 849,609,592

Departmental Carbon Emissions

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether his Department has any plans to generate low-carbon energy from its estate.

Norman Baker: The Department for Transport is committed to reducing the carbon emissions from its estate and low-carbon technologies will form part of our overall sustainability strategy.
	The Department already has four Vehicle Operator and Services Agency Test Station sites which utilise either Wind Turbine or Solar Photovoltaic technologies.
	While these technologies are not practical for some parts of our estate, we have a number of feasibility studies ongoing at present. These include:
	Biomass boiler, photovoltaic and solar thermal arrays at the Driving Standards Agency Training and Development Centre in Bedford. The target for installation to start is 2012;
	Installation of low-carbon technologies in at least one of the Highways Agency main offices with a target for installation to be take place by March 2012;
	Ground and Air Source heat pumps and Photovoltaic technologies at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency headquarters in Swansea. The aim is for these to be progressed over the next two years subject to feasibility; and
	The Maritime and Coastguard Agency are in the infancy of exploring the potential for generating low-carbon energy from their estate but do not yet have any definitive time scales in place.
	These are the current areas under consideration but this scope is likely to grow as the technologies mature and our estate rationalisation programme completes.

Departmental Charitable Donations

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps he is taking to encourage charitable giving by Ministers in his Department.

Norman Baker: Government Ministers have pledged to undertake a ‘one day challenge’ with a charity or community group of their choice. This is a clear and public commitment by Ministers to give their time to help others. The pledge aims to inspire others to consider how they might be able to support their communities to benefit themselves, as well as their chosen organisations.

Departmental Regulation

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many regulations that impose costs on businesses his Department (a) introduced and (b) removed in the six months prior to 1 September 2010; and what the net effect on the costs on businesses of such introductions and removals was.

Michael Penning: 12 statutory instruments that impose costs on businesses, charities or the voluntary or public sector were made by the Department for Transport in the six months prior to 1 September 2010. Eleven were made by the Department under the last administration. Of the 12, six imposed an overall net cost. The other six were either neutral in terms of the overall costs imposed or had an overall net benefit.
	Although it is not possible, except at disproportionate cost, to break down the costs as between business, charities and the voluntary or public sector for each of the instruments, I set out as follows a table of the 12 instruments giving general comments on whom, on the basis of the impact assessments prepared for the instruments, the costs were expected to fall.
	The Merchant Shipping (Ship-to-Ship Transfers) Regulations 2010 are not yet in force and the underlying policy is subject to review, consequently the costs in the table may not become a reality.
	
		
			 Title Number Net cost  (£ million) Net benefit  (£ million) Origin (wholly or mainly) Comment 
			 Merchant Shipping (Light Dues) (Amendment) Regulations 2010 2010 No. 629 0 0 Domestic — 
			 Train Driving Licences and Certificates Regulations 2010 2010 No. 724 17.1 — EU Costs will mainly fall on the train operating companies 
			 Merchant Shipping(Maritime Labour Convention) (Medical Certification) Regulations 2010 2010 No. 737 0.148 — International Costs to seafarers 
			 Air Navigation (Amendment) Order 2010 2010 No. 770 — 5.848 Domestic Costs to licensed aerodromes and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Benefits to training organisations and CAA 
			 M20 Motorway (Junctions 4 to 7) (Variable Speed Limits) Regulations 2010 2010 No. 775 — 7.3 Domestic Costs mainly to government, benefit to motorists 
			 Vehicle Drivers (Certificates of Professional Competence) (Amendment) Regulations 2010 2010 No. 865 0.121 — Domestic Costs to drivers 
			 Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships) (Amendment) Regulations 2010 2010 No. 895 23 — EU Most costs fall on passenger ship operators but some to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency 
			 Motor Vehicles (Off Road Events) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2010 2010 No. 1003 0 0 Domestic — 
			 Motor Vehicle(Competitions and Trials) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2010 2010 No. 1005 0 0 Domestic — 
			 Motor Vehicles (Driving Licences) (Amendment) Regulations 2010 2010 No. 1203 0.009 — Domestic Cost to driver trainers 
			 Merchant Shipping (Ship-to-Ship Transfers) Regulations 2010 2010 No. 1228 83.3 — Domestic Costs to ports, harbours and shipping operators. 
			 Tonnage Tax (Training Requirement) (Amendment) Regulations 2010 2010 No. 2158 0 0 Domestic — 
		
	
	In total, the 12 instruments have a net cost of £123.678 million and a net benefit of £13.148 million giving an overall net cost of £110.15 million.
	No statutory instruments which imposed a cost on business were revoked by an instrument made in the six months prior to 1 September 2010.
	Local and temporary instruments have not been considered for the purposes of answering this question as to do so would incur disproportionate costs.

Driving Offences

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many incidents of road rage there have been in each of the last three years; and what steps he is taking to prevent these incidents.

Michael Penning: The term ‘road rage’ is used to cover a wide range of aggressive behaviour when one road user assaults another or threatens another due to their behaviour on the road. Unless a serious incident takes place the police do not become involved, and therefore no record of the number of incidents exists.
	Contributions towards ‘road rage’ incidents include motoring offences for which the road user may be prosecuted under road traffic offences. The Government’s Strategic Framework for Road Safety includes a proposal to introduce a fixed penalty notice for careless driving, expected to start in 2012. This would allow more people to be offered rehabilitative education to combat behaviour such as ‘tail-gating’, which itself is at times unofficially described as ‘road rage’.

East Coast Railway Line: Finance

Ian Mearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent discussions he has had with (a) officials from Directly Operated Railways Ltd and (b) ministerial colleagues and officials from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on the award of the East Coast Main Line customer contact centre contract to Intelenet and Atos Origin.

Norman Baker: holding answer 10 June 2011
	Ministers from the Department for Transport have met with (a) representatives of Directly Operated Railways Ltd and (b) ministerial colleagues and officials from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, but not specifically to discuss this matter.
	Officials from the Department meet regularly with train operating Companies and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to discuss a wide range of issues.

First TransPennine Express: Contracts

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which companies have been shortlisted to provide additional rolling stock for the TransPennine Express passenger rail franchise; and when he expects to announce the award of the contract.

Theresa Villiers: The Department is not procuring these trains and therefore is unable to disclose this information. The train operator is leading on this procurement.
	The Department is in negotiation with TransPennine Express regarding the commercial terms for operating such trains. Should commercial agreement be reached between the parties then an announcement will be made in due course.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Kwasi Kwarteng: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what research his Department has commissioned on connections between the principal High Speed 2 stations and outlying areas.

Philip Hammond: Although no specific research into connections between High Speed 2 (HS2) stations and outlying areas has been commissioned, a key factor in identifying station locations for HS2 has been the availability of local and regional transport links. HS2 Ltd's modelling takes account of the impact of accessibility of new stations on the proposed the HS2 line, as well as the impact on passengers on the classic network. Details of the modelling and impacts on the wider transport network are available in the Economic Case for HS2:
	http://highspeedrail.dft.gov.uk/library/documents
	Subject to the outcome of the public consultation, the Department would work with local partners to ensure HS2 is effectively connected into local transport services.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the potential effects of High Speed 2 on (a) the number of engineering jobs in the North West during the construction of the line and (b) the economy of the North West (i) during and (ii) after construction.

Philip Hammond: HS2 Ltd estimate that around 9,000 jobs would be created to construct the new London-West Midlands route, with a further 1,500 permanent jobs created in operations and maintenance. These figures would significantly rise under the Government's proposed ‘Y’ shaped high speed rail network which includes links to the north-east and north-west, and has the potential to generate benefits worth £44 billion over the appraisal period.
	Although construction phase benefits have not been broken down to a regional level, new high speed rail lines could provide business opportunities for firms throughout the UK's rail industry supply chain, including engineering firms. Once the London-West Midlands line is operational, HS2 Ltd forecast that based on journeys starting in the north-west region, the north-west could experience 23% of the £22 billion worth of potential benefits from the first phase of a new high speed line.

High Speed 2 Railway Line: Fares

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions he has had with railway operators on his proposed fare structure for High Speed 2.

Philip Hammond: holding answer 11 July 2011
	I have had no discussions with railway operators about any proposed fare structure for HS2.
	The exact level and structure of fares on HS2 (London to West Midlands) would be determined closer to the time of opening of the scheme and would depend on a wide range of factors. The structure of regulation in the rail industry, the structure of franchises and the impact of competition from other rail operators (and indeed from air operators) could all affect the fares structures that might eventually be put in place on high speed trains. For the purposes of the economic case we have assumed that the level of fares on HS2 would be broadly similar to that currently in place on the West Coast Main Line.

High Speed 2 Railway Line: Freight

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what consideration he has given to the provision of a dedicated freight railway line for the routes to be served by High Speed 2.

Philip Hammond: holding answer 5 July 2011
	None. While HS2 would be capable of carrying freight it is not planned to be used in this way. However, by releasing capacity on existing lines, HS2 would enable additional freight services on these lines.

High Speed One

Esther McVey: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the net financial value to the Exchequer has been of (a) the let of a concession to manage the High Speed 1 infrastructure and (b) franchise payments for High Speed 1 since 2009.

Theresa Villiers: A 30 year Concession for HS1 was sold in 2010 for £2.1 billion to High Speed 1 Limited. There are no franchise payments associated with the HS1 Concession.
	High Speed 1 Limited's income comes from the track and station access payments it receives from Southeastern and Eurostar International Limited for using the railway together with car parking, retail and advertising income at stations.

IBM

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many contracts his Department holds with IBM; and what the (a) purpose and (b) monetary value of each such contract is.

Norman Baker: Out of the Department for Transport and its seven Executive agencies, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) holds one contract with IBM. The core purpose of this contract is to run and maintain the DVLA information technology infrastructure. The contract also includes the design, development and support of new and enhanced systems and services to DVLA specification. The monetary value of the contract is £150 million per annum and the contract runs until September 2015.

Liverpool Cruise Terminal

John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what discussions his has had with (a) representatives of Peel Holdings and (b) Associated British Ports on the future operational role of the Liverpool Cruise Terminal; on what date such meetings took place; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Penning: The Department has held no meetings with Peel Holdings nor with Associated British Ports specifically on this subject, although the matter has been mentioned in the course of other business with each of them at various times. The Department's consultation, on the proposal to remove its objection to use of the terminal for turnaround operations, closes on 15 September, and we shall welcome responses from both companies.

Motorcycles

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department has taken to encourage the development and use of electrically-powered motorcycles.

Norman Baker: Passenger cars are by some distance the biggest source of emissions from road transport, accounting for almost 60% of total UK domestic CO2 transport emissions compared to less than 1% accounted for by motorcycles. As such, the focus of Government support is on cars where it will have the biggest impact on greenhouse gas emissions from road transport. We recognise that electric motorcycles offer environmental benefits compared to conventional motorcycles and they are already zero rated for VED purposes and exempt from fuel duty. Electric motorbikes are able to access the re-charging infrastructure installed as part of the Plugged in Places programme.

Network Rail

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what work his Department has undertaken with Network Rail on improving rail asset information.

Theresa Villiers: Network Rail has an obligation in its network licence to maintain appropriate, accurate and readily accessible information about its railway assets, including their condition, capability and capacity. The network licence is enforced by the Office of Rail Regulation in accordance with its Economic Enforcement Policy, which states that it will concentrate on serious or systemic issues.

Network Rail

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his policy is on measures to notify to (a) the Office of Rail Regulation and (b) Parliament of compromise agreements paid by Network Rail out of the public purse.

Theresa Villiers: Network Rail is a private sector company which, in line with other employers, is subject to relevant employment legislation and directives. Questions on the details of its employment practices are for the company to answer.

North East Interim Regional Transport Board

Nick Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the status is of the North East Interim Regional Transport Board; and what the composition is of that board.

Norman Baker: I refer the right hon. Member to my answer of 15 June 2011, Official Report, column 835W, to his earlier question on this matter, and have nothing further to add.

Office of Rail Regulation

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what discussions he has had with the Office of Rail Regulation on (a) a review of rail industry change and the consultation process and (b) amendments to contracts and the Network Code;
	(2)  what consideration his Department and the Office of Rail Regulation have given to issuing a statement on (a) partnership working between train operating companies and Network Rail and (b) treatment of resulting costs and benefits;
	(3)  what work his Department has done on the proposals of the Final Independent Report of the Rail Value for Money Study for devolved route infrastructure management by Network Rail infrastructure managers;
	(4)  what work his Department has undertaken on the proposals in the Final Independent Report of the Rail Value for Money Study for the vertical integration of train operations and infrastructure management in the (a) Sussex, (b) Kent, (c) South Eastern, (d) Wales and (e) Western regions; and if he will make a statement;
	(5)  whether his Department has carried out (a) a cost-benefit analysis and (b) any other work on the proposal of the Final Independent Report of the Rail Value for Money Study to allow independent ownership of at least one route infrastructure management by 2014-15;
	(6)  what work his Department has carried out with Network Rail on the proposals to create a Northern operating route out of the London North Western and London North Eastern routes contained in the Final Independent Report of the Rail Value for Money Study;
	(7)  whether his Department plans to undertake an assessment of the implications for rail safety of the proposals for Network Rail to devolve safety functions to route infrastructure managers in the Final Independent Report of the Rail Value for Money Study;
	(8)  what his policy is on the future of the network grant;
	(9)  whether he plans to undertake an assessment of the effect competition between train operating companies of proposals for 30-year vertically integrated train operations and infrastructure management franchises.

Theresa Villiers: The Department for Transport has received Sir Roy McNulty's final report on the value for money of the railway. The Department will be working closely with the Office of Rail Regulation and the rail industry over the next few months to analyse Sir Roy's recommendations and to develop proposals for the reform of the industry. The Government plans to publish its proposals for the future of the rail industry before the end of the year.

Rail Value for Money Review

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much has been spent in each cost category in providing the Independent Report of the Rail Value for Money Study. [R]

Theresa Villiers: holding answer 13 June 2011
	The total forecast cost of the report to 27 May 2011 was £3,240,832. The breakdown of costs is as follows:
	
		
			  £ 
			 Administrative costs 123,875 
			 Consultancy costs(1) 2,063,094.30 
			 Programme and Project Management(2) 1,053,862.40 
			 (1) Including both transport and management consultancy. (2) Including staff costs.

Rail Value for Money Review

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the cost to the public purse was of the Final Independent Report of the Rail Value for Money Study; how much was spent on (a) staffing costs and (b) consultant costs; and how much each consultant was paid.

Theresa Villiers: I refer the hon. Member to my answer given today to the hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) (UIN 58590) which sets out the total forecast cost of the Rail Value for Money study.
	The forecast staff costs include seven core staff paid for by the Department (at a total cost of £968,638) and two further personnel remunerated by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR, at a total cost of £85,224), a total of £1,053,862. In addition, staff were seconded from the Department and the ORR on an ad hoc basis to provide support to the study.
	The total forecast consultancy expenditure is £2,063,094. Consultancy expenditure is set out in the following table:
	
		
			  £ 
			 Adventis 35,212 
			 Aecom Ltd 111,085 
			 Amtec Consulting 98,050 
			 Atkins Ltd 440,363 
		
	
	
		
			 Atos Origin 21,500 
			 Booz and Co Ltd 61,244 
			 Civity 168,400 
			 Colin Buchanan 44,500 
			 Detica 85,428 
			 DTZ Debenham TIE 45,195 
			 Ernst and Young 21,475 
			 First Class Partnership Ltd 5,000 
			 First Economics 21,700 
			 Grant Thornton 35,805 
			 Imperial College London 18,000 
			 Investors in Excellence 26,955 
			 Jacobs Consultancy 37,208 
			 LEK Consulting 273,290 
			 Ove Arup and Partners 72,644 
			 Oxera Consulting Ltd 115,072 
			 Peter Thompson 24,000 
			 Steer Davis Gleave 300,968

Railways

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his policy is on the involvement of train operating companies in the High Level Output Specification process.

Theresa Villiers: Our policy is one of active involvement. Train operating companies are working with Network Rail to develop an Initial Industry Plan; expected to be published in September 2011, which will inform Government of the areas the industry seeks the High Level Output Specification (HLOS) to cover. The companies participate in the Government's cross-industry joint planning group, which has been providing guidance on the format the output might take since 2009.

Railways: Electrification

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of (a) extending his plans for electrification of the rail network and ordering more full electric trains and (b) retaining his existing rail electrification proposals operated by hybrid trains over the next 10 years.

Theresa Villiers: The Government have committed to delivering an investment of over £5.5 billion in the electrification of the network and to a new fleet of intercity express trains and made its estimate over a 30-year period.
	The operation of bi-mode trains is cheaper for those less busy sections of the network where electrification cannot be justified and allows through long distance service to London to continue.

Railways: Fares

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the answer of 22 March 2011, Official Report, column 1062W, on railways: finance, what progress his Department has made in its engagement with the rail industry on an agreement on the effects on levels of Government (a) subsidy to and (b) premia received from train operating companies of the increase in rail fares by retail prices index plus three per cent. for three years from January 2012.

Theresa Villiers: holding answer 5 July 2011
	Progress is being made on refining the contractual changes to subsidy and premia that the Department expects to recover from train operating companies for this change in fares regulation.

Railways: Fees and Charges

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will consider the merits of amending the Penalty Fares Policy and Rules to allow passengers travelling with an advance ticket and travelling on a service other than that specified on that ticket to pay the difference between what they have paid for that ticket and the fare appropriate to the service on which they are travelling.

Theresa Villiers: The scope of the forthcoming Fares Review is under consideration.

Railways: Finance

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  how much his Department paid Steer Davies Gleave for the work carried out as part of the final Independent Report of the Rail Value for Money Study;
	(2)  how much his Department paid (a) Oxera, (b) Arup and (c) Frontier Economics for work commissioned by the Final Independent Report of the Rail Value for Money Study.

Theresa Villiers: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I have given her today (UIN 61233) which sets out the direct payments to third parties engaged in producing work for the Independent Report of the Rail Value for Money Study.

Railways: Franchises

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what his policy is on requiring franchise bidders to guarantee a minimum number of trains to stop at each station in a franchise area.

Theresa Villiers: The policy for each franchise will be considered during the re-letting process, in light of public consultation. The Department is currently consulting on the total quantum of stops outlined in the Trains Service Requirement of the draft Invitation to Tender (ITT) for the Intercity West Coast franchise. This draft ITT sets out the proposals for that franchise and the consultation can be found at:
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/publications/rail-passenger-franchise-intercity-west-coast/
	The consultation closes on 17 August 2011.

Railways: Lee Valley

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he plans to make an announcement on expenditure on the Lee Valley Main Line between Coppermill Junction and Broxbourne Junction.

Theresa Villiers: The rail industry is currently preparing its recommended priorities for the next railway control period (Control Period 5 from 2014-15 to 2018-19). The next High Level Output Specification, setting out the railway outputs required by the Secretary of State for Transport in Control Period 5 will be published in July 2012. It will then be for the rail industry to determine how the outputs are delivered, subject to oversight by the Office of Rail Regulation.

Railways: Lee Valley

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he has any plans to install new segregated train tracks from Brimsdown, north of Tottenham Hale station, to south of Coppermill Junction; and if he will make a statement.

Theresa Villiers: Network Rail is considering options for new tracks in the Brimsdown and Coppermill Junction areas in its development of the London and South East Route Utilisation Strategy. The final version of the strategy is expected to be published shortly and will inform the Government's next High Level Output Specification covering rail investment from 2014.

Railways: Midlands

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which companies have been shortlisted to provide additional rolling stock for the London Midland passenger rail franchise; and when he expects to announce the award of the contract.

Theresa Villiers: The procurement of additional rolling stock for the London Midland passenger rail franchise is combined with a procurement of similar trains by the TransPennine Express franchise. The Department is not procuring these trains and therefore is unable to disclose this information.
	The Department is in negotiation with both train operating companies regarding the commercial terms for operating such trains. Should commercial agreement be reached between the parties then an announcement will be made later this year.

Railways: North-west

Esther McVey: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received from businesses in the north-west on high speed rail.

Philip Hammond: Overall, the business community in the north-west has demonstrated significant support for the Government's proposals on high speed rail, including in representations to the Department.

Railways: Passengers

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to Network Rail's Northern Route Utilisation Strategy, what plans his Department has to make provision for projected increases in passenger numbers to Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield and Newcastle up to 2024.

Theresa Villiers: We announced on 13 April the provision of an extra 2,000 seats for West Yorkshire commuters as part of the 650 extra carriages we have committed to introduce across the network by 2014. Our plans beyond 2014 will be set out in 2012 and will take account of the Initial Industry Plan the rail industry intends to publish later this year.

Railways: Public Finance

Brian H Donohoe: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much public funding was provided for (a) rail transport, (b) roads, (c) shipping and ports and (d) airports in the latest period for which figures are available.

Norman Baker: The Department's Supply Estimates give details of the amount of public funding made available for 2011-12 and can be found at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/dft_main_supply_ estimates_april11.pdf
	The Estimate shows the full funding provided for rail transport at Estimate Lines D, E and F. Roads are at Lines A and C; in addition, £806 million of the amount shown for local authorities in Line B is for capital road maintenance.
	Line L shows funding for Aviation, Maritime, Security and Safety. Within this, the public funding for shipping and ports is £20.2 million, but there is no public funding specifically for airports.

Railways: Safety

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department is taking to investigate the circumstances in which two trains came close to collision near Burnham on 4 June 2011.

Theresa Villiers: The role of the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) is to conduct investigations into the types of accident or incident that the industry is obliged to notify us about, which are defined in the Schedules to the Railways (Accident Investigation and Reporting) Regulations 2005.
	The event on 4 June 2011 at Burnham occurred after the signaller at Slough had authorised a train to pass signal DM20 at danger. During the previous day, there had been signal failures caused by vandalism between Taplow and Burnham and work continued during the morning of the 4th to repair the problems which had led to some signals in the area being held at red.
	Operational procedures exist to cover such situations which may arise, for example because the signal itself is defective. When a signaller permits a driver to pass a signal at danger, the driver is instructed to proceed at caution and be prepared to stop short of any obstruction.
	On this occasion, the signaller incorrectly instructed the driver to pass the signal at danger. However, the driver correctly applied the Rule Book procedure and ensured that the train proceeded slowly and was able to stop well short of the train ahead, without the use of emergency braking. Consequently, while the trains where physically in relatively close proximity (circa 100 yards), they were not at risk of collision. Under these circumstances, the event was not notifiable to the RAIB according to the legislation.
	However, it had been identified by the RAIB duty co-ordinator, from the daily log provided by Network Rail, as an incident where further information should be obtained. As a result, the RAIB decided that it was appropriate to leave the investigation to the industry, who themselves have a duty to investigate.

Railways: South-west

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he has any plans to electrify the lines between (a) London Paddington and Penzance stations and (b) Bristol Temple Meads and Exeter St David's stations.

Theresa Villiers: holding answer 5 July 2011
	The Government supports a progressive electrification of the railway to support out carbon and cost reduction goals, where the economic case is sound and as resources allow.
	As detailed in the Secretary of State for Transport's statement to the House on 1 March 2011, Official Report, column 185, we are committed to electrifying the Great Western Main Line from London Paddington to Didcot, Newbury, Bristol and Cardiff. We have no current plans to electrify the lines beyond to Penzance and Exeter St David stations.

Railways: Theft

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what steps he has taken to prevent rail cable theft in Wales;
	(2)  how many rail cable thefts there were in Wales in each of the last five years for which figures are available;
	(3)  what estimate he has made of the costs of (a) replacing cables and (b) disruption to services following cable theft in the latest period for which figures are available.

Norman Baker: Prevention of rail crimes is a matter for the British Transport police (BTP). Cable theft is a crime which hits the railway particularly hard and causes levels of disruption out of all proportion to the value of the material stolen. That is why the BTP is in the forefront of efforts to tackle the problem, working with, Network Rail, the train operators, other police forces, the scrap metal industry and others with an interest. In addition, I recently met with interested parties in the rail industry to discuss this problem.
	Methods used to deter and catch the thieves include a dedicated BTP task force with increased patrols, intelligence led policing and additional dedicated officers; the use of the Network Rail helicopter, CCTV, forensic marking, trembler alarms and other devices to protect the cable; the introduction of new type of cable that is easier to identify and harder to steal and fast response teams to get trains on the move as quickly as possible following an incident.
	Information relating to cost of replacement cables and disruption to services is not held by the Department for Transport but by Network Rail. It is not possible to provide the information by area but the national figures for cable theft (May 2011) are detailed as follows:
	
		
			 Financial year Number of incidents  (1) Delay minutes  (2) Compensation cost  (3)   (£) Total cost  (4)   (£) 
			 2010-11 995 365,265 12,137,220 16,510,663 
			 2009-10 656 321,570 10,931,350 13,961,998 
			 2008-09 742 283,167 7,858,516 12,264,682 
			 Total 2,393 970,002 30, 927, 086 42,737,343 
			 (1) Number of incidents which caused delay to the operational network. It does not include thefts from depots, engineering sites or redundant cable. (2) Delay minutes show the inconvenience experienced by the passenger and vary with each incident. If the theft is on a busy mainline then they rack up much quicker than on quieter suburban lines. Delay per incident is decreasing as Network Rail teams become more efficient at locating and fixing the problem. (3) Compensation costs (known as schedule 8 costs) are paid to train and freight operators for the disruption caused by the delay. This is a substantial part of the cost to the industry of cable theft but does not include the cost of staff time to repair and replace the cable, replacement cable itself and the cost of mitigation measures such as security patrols and investment in new technology. The amount of compensation paid depends on the type of services delayed. (4) Total cost comprises schedule 8 (compensation to train operators), as well as the average cost of replacement cable; average maintenance cost of attending to the fault and average opportunity cost of diverting this labour from elsewhere. This figure is only available as a national figure as it is an estimation based on averages. 
		
	
	
		
			  Hours delay 
			 2010-11 6,088 
			 2009-10 5,360 
			 2008-09 4,719

Railways: Tickets

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport with reference to the recommendations of the final independent report of the Rail Value for Money Study, whether he plans to establish a pilot scheme in conjunction with a train operating company to trial smart card season tickets.

Theresa Villiers: There are currently four train operating companies (South West Trains, London Midland, East Midlands Trains and Southern) that have franchise commitments to implement ITSO smart ticketing schemes including the use of smart card season tickets.

Railways: Vandalism

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many cases of vandalism of railway tracks in each (a) county and (b) region were reported in each of the last five years; what the average annual cost of repairing vandalism to the rail network has been in the last five years; and what initiatives are being pursued to prevent vandalism of the rail network.

Theresa Villiers: The information requested is not held by the Department for Transport, but by the British Transport Police and Network Rail, who hold the primary responsibility for combating vandalism on the national rail network.
	The hon. Member may wish to direct his question to the British Transport Police and Network Rail at the following addresses for a response to his questions:
	British Transport Police
	25 Camden Road
	London
	NW1 9LN.
	E-mail: parliament@btp.pnn.police.uk
	David Higgins
	Chief Executive
	Network Rail
	Kings Place
	90 York Way
	London
	N1 9AG.

Road Signs and Markings

Mark Garnier: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the (a) visibility and (b) distance criteria are for the installation of solid double white lines on class (i) A, (ii) B and (iii) C roads in England.

Norman Baker: Visibility and distance criteria for solid double white lines are not regulated. The Traffic Signs Manual, Chapter 5, section 5 available on the Department for Transport website at:
	http://www2.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/tss/tsmanual/trafficsignsmanualchapter5.pdf
	gives advice on the appropriate procedure for determining whether they should be installed. The selection criteria are independent of road class.

ScotRail: Rolling Stock

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the delivery into service of the Class 380 electric multiple unit trains and depot procured from Siemens for the Scotrail passenger rail franchise.

Theresa Villiers: The Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), has made no assessment of the Class 380 electric multiple trains and depots procured for the Scotrail passenger franchise as this is a devolved matter for Transport Scotland.

Serco

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many contracts his Department holds with Serco; and what the (a) purpose and (b) monetary value of each such contract is.

Norman Baker: The Department for Transport and its agencies holds five contracts with Serco. The purpose and monetary value of each contract is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Agency name Purpose Monetary value, per annum (£) 
			 DVLA Occupational Health Service 420,000 
			 Highways Agency Electronic System for Delivery of Abnormal Loads (2012) (ESDAL system) 809,588 
			 Highways Agency Highways Agency Traffic Management System (HATMS) Software Maintenance 4,500,000 
			 Highways Agency Electronic Service Delivery of Abnormal Loads  Phase 5 629,970 
			 Highways Agency Project Support Framework (Consultancy) 2010-14, Type A Suppliers 96,250 
		
	
	In addition, Serco is a prime subcontractor on another contract and in joint venture arrangements with other suppliers on a further two. The purpose and monetary value for these contracts are shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Agency name Supplier Purpose Value, per annum (£) 
			 Highways Agency Serco is the prime subcontractor for the Traffic Information Services (TIS) Ltd National Traffic Control Centre 16,000,000 
			 Highways Agency SERCO/Costain Joint Venture Major Projects Framework Contract 500,000,000 
			 Highways Agency SERCO/WSP Joint Venture HADECS (Highways Agency Digital Enforcement Camera System) Framework Contract 5,800,000

Shared Service Centre

Jennifer Willott: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what recent progress his Department has made on divestment of its shared service centre; and if he will make a statement.

Norman Baker: The Department for Transport's Board decided on 9 December 2010 that its preferred option for the Shared Service Centre in Swansea was that it would be divested to a private sector provider. In taking this decision, the Board has committed to buying shared services from the new owner for up to 10 years and plans to require the new owner to retain a significant presence in Swansea.
	The actual process of looking for a new provider began on 18 July with the issuance of a notice in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU). It is expected that the divestment process will be completed by May 2012.

Shipping: EU Action

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what proposals his Department has made to the International Maritime Organisation in the course of the Organisation's work on European standards on ship's navigation bridge visibility.

Michael Penning: Neither the UK on its own nor the European Union collectively has submitted formal proposals to the International Maritime Organization about European standards on navigation bridge visibility for ships.

Shipping: Exhaust Emissions

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment his Department has made of the effects of lower sulphur emission levels in emission control areas on freight shipping.

Michael Penning: The Department for Transport's Maritime and Coastguard Agency commissioned a report entitled ‘Impact Assessment for the revised Annex VI of MARPOL’ which was completed in 2009 and which includes consideration of the costs for the shipping industry and other stakeholders of implementing the lower sulphur emission levels in emission control areas.

South West Trains: Rolling Stock

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which companies have been shortlisted to provide additional rolling stock for the South West Trains passenger rail franchise; and when he expects to announce the award of the contract.

Theresa Villiers: The Department is not procuring these trains and therefore is unable to disclose this information. The train operator is leading on this procurement.
	The Department is in negotiation with Stagecoach South West Trains regarding the commercial terms for operating such trains. Should commercial agreement be reached then an announcement will be made in due course.

Thameslink Railway Line: Rolling Stock

Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what meetings (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have had with their counterparts in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on the decision to award the Thameslink contract to an overseas consortium.

Theresa Villiers: holding answer 5 July 2011
	The requirements of EU law mean that Ministers are not permitted to discuss the details of individual bids for contracts before they are awarded. The Invitation to Tender produced in 2008 specified the evaluation criteria by which bids for the Thameslink contract would be judged. The Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) and the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the right hon. Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), have subsequently discussed the award of the Thameslink contract and its implications and have jointly written to the Prime Minister outlining their proposals for the Growth Review to include consideration of the way EU procurement rules are applied in the UK, a proposal the Prime Minister has agreed to.

Thameslink Railway Line: Rolling Stock

John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on what date (a) officials in his Department were, (b) Ministers in his Department were and (c) he was informed of the outcome of the tender for the Thameslink rolling stock contract.

Theresa Villiers: holding answer 11 July 2011
	DFT officials confirmed the result of the procurement evaluation on an anonymised basis and made a recommendation, to a DFT board sub-committee meeting on 4 May 2011. The Secretary of State for Transport, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), was asked to endorse this recommendation, with the bids still anonymised, on 12 May 2011. He was informed of the bidders’ identities later that same day after he had endorsed the recommendation.

Thameslink Railway Line: Rolling Stock

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the potential contribution of the Thameslink contract to domestic economic output; and if he will make a statement.

Theresa Villiers: holding answer 13 July 2011
	The evaluation criteria set for the Thameslink procurement by the previous Government do not include an assessment of domestic economic output. Under European procurement rules, it is not permitted to specify the location of manufacturing facilities as a condition of contract awards. Siemens have indicated that this contract would generate up to 2,000 jobs in the UK.

Thameslink Railway Line: Rolling Stock

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 16 June 2011, Official Report, columns 85-86WS, on Thameslink rolling stock, whether he took steps to establish the likely effect on domestic employment levels of the announcement of the preferred bidder; and whether such matters were taken into account during the tendering process.

Theresa Villiers: holding answer 13 July 2011
	The criteria against which bids for the Thameslink rolling stock contract were judged were set by the previous Government and included an evaluation of affordability, value for money and deliverability. The likely effect on domestic employment levels was not one of the evaluation criteria specified in the invitation to tender.
	I understand that Bombardier is currently reviewing its UK operation. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, with support from the Department for Transport, has set up an Economic Response Task Force to help ensure that the rail industry supply chain in Derby and elsewhere exploits all opportunities in the UK and overseas.
	Siemens, the nominated preferred bidder for Thameslink, have stated that up to 2,000 new jobs will be created in the UK as a result of the contract, comprising train component manufacturing, construction of the depots and subsequent maintenance of the new fleet of trains.

Thameslink Railway Line: Rolling Stock

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 16 June 2011, Official Report, columns 85-6WS, on Thameslink rolling stock, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the announcement of the preferred bidder for the Thameslink contract on East Midlands companies operating in the rail sector.

Theresa Villiers: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the right hon. Member for Southampton, Itchen (Mr Denham), today (UIN 63731).

Thameslink Railway Line: Rolling Stock

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 16 June 2011, Official Report, columns 85-6WS, on Thameslink rolling stock, what consideration the Government gave to the findings of the 2009 report produced by URS Corporation Limited for Derby city council, the East Midlands Development Agency and Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce in assessing the bid from Bombardier for the Thameslink contract.

Theresa Villiers: The report to which the hon. Member refers was not considered in the evaluation of the bids regarding the Thameslink rolling stock project since it was not relevant to the criteria set for the procurement by the previous Government.

Thameslink Railway Line: Rolling Stock

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the potential effects of job losses arising from the appointment of Siemens as preferred bidder for the Thameslink Rolling Stock Project.

Philip Hammond: I have regular discussions with my Cabinet colleagues on a wide range of issues.

Thameslink Railway Line: Rolling Stock

John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the effects on the economy of Derby and the surrounding area of the decision to award the Thameslink contract to an overseas consortium.

Theresa Villiers: The criteria against which bids for the Thameslink rolling stock contract were judged were set by the previous Government and included an evaluation of the affordability, value for money and deliverability.
	I understand that Bombardier is currently reviewing its UK operation. While this is of course primarily a commercial matter for Bombardier the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, with support from the Department for Transport, has set up an Economic Response Task Force to help ensure that the rail industry supply chain in Derby and elsewhere exploits all opportunities in the UK and overseas.
	Siemens, the nominated preferred bidder for Thameslink, have stated that up to 2,000 new jobs will be created in the UK as a result of the contract, comprising train component manufacturing, construction of the depots and subsequent maintenance of the new fleet of trains.

Thameslink: Trade Unions

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 16 June 2011, Official Report, columns 85-86WS, on Thameslink Rolling Stock, whether Siemens has committed to recognising the trade unions representing train maintenance staff at First Capital Connect (FCC) when the contract for the rolling stock maintenance transfers from FCC to Siemens; and what steps he has taken to secure such a commitment.

Theresa Villiers: The Thameslink Rolling Stock Project invitation to tender did not require bidders to give a general commitment to recognise trade unions. However, where existing First Capital Connect maintenance staff transfer to Siemens and the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations (TUPE) apply, then any rights of the employee to union recognition will be preserved.

Thameslink: Trade Unions

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 16 June 2011, Official Report, columns 85-86WS, on Thameslink Rolling Stock, whether bidders' policies on (a) industrial relations and (b) union recognition were taken into account when awarding the Thameslink contract.

Theresa Villiers: The criteria against which bids for the Thameslink rolling stock contract were judged were set by the previous Government and included an evaluation of affordability, value for money and deliverability. No criteria relating to industrial relations or union recognition were included in the invitation to tender.

Transport: Cleethorpes

Martin Vickers: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much funding he has allocated to (a) road, (b) railway and (c) port infrastructure in Cleethorpes constituency in each of the last 10 years.

Michael Penning: The information is not available in the form requested.
	However, the following table lists the integrated transport and highway maintenance blocks which are capital funding used by local transport authorities for small transport improvement schemes costing less than £5 million and resurfacing, maintenance or replacement of bridges/tunnels and occasional reinstatement of roads following natural disasters.
	
		
			 £000 
			 Financial year Integrated transport block allocated to north-east Lincolnshire Maintenance block allocated to north-east Lincolnshire Total allocated to north-east Lincolnshire 
			 2001-02 2,100 965 3,065 
			 2002-03 4,700 970 5,670 
			 2003-04 3,600 1,128 4,728 
			 2004-05 3,220 2,067 5,287 
			 2005-06 2,000 961 2,961 
			 2006-07 2,185 1,025 3,210 
			 2007-08 2,231 1,168 3,399 
			 2008-09 2,058 1,207 3,265 
			 2009-10 1,901 1,327 3,228 
			 2010-11 1,297 1,526 2,823 
			 2011-12 1,698 1,126 2,824 
			 2012-13(1) 1,646 1,201 2,847 
			 (1) As announced to the House on 13 December 2010. 
		
	
	It is for the authority to determine how these allocations are spent in line with its priorities.
	In addition, funding for the routine maintenance of local roads is provided through the Communities and Local Government Department's revenue support grant. This grant is also unhypothecated and may be applied to any services.
	The ports industry operates on a commercial basis and does not normally receive funding from Government. However, a grant of £382,480 was awarded by the Strategic Rail Authority to DFDS Tor Line Ltd in November 2002. This grant was provided to support the cost of facilities at the DFDS Nordic terminal at the port of Immingham.

Arrests

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many persons arrested in Cambridgeshire have been processed in the police investigation centre near King’s Lynn since its opening; and what the average cost of processing such persons was.

James Brokenshire: I have been asked to reply.
	A total of 19,959 individuals were arrested in Cambridgeshire in 2009-10 which are the latest figures available. Information about the number of individuals processed in the police investigations centre, and the average cost of processing those individuals is not collected centrally.

Bail

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many (a) women and (b) men 
	(1)  absconded while awaiting trial in each year since 2001;
	(2)  released on bail were found to have interfered with witnesses while awaiting trial in each year since 2001.

Crispin Blunt: The number of females and males proceeded against at magistrates courts for absconding while on bail in England and Wales, from 2001 to 2010 (latest available) can be viewed in the following table.
	Information held centrally by the Ministry of Justice does not record how many defendants released on bail were found to have interfered with witnesses while awaiting trial.
	Court proceedings data for 2011 will be available in the spring of 2012.
	
		
			 Number of females and males proceeded against at the magistrates courts for absconding  (1)  , England and Wales, 2001  -  10  (2, 3) 
			 Sex 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008  (4) 2009 2010 
			 Absconding by person released on bail          
			 Female 7,006 8,259 9,891 8,963 8,012 6,946 6,044 5,256 4,696 5,022 
			 Male 38,041 43,928 47,671 48,037 44,250 40,834 35,297 28,354 25,042 26,475 
			 Not stated(5) — — — — — — — 274 201 167 
			 Total 45,047 52,187 57,562 57,000 52,262 47,780 41,341 33,884 29,939 31,664 
			 (1 )Bail Act 1976, section 6. (2) The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (3 )Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (4) Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July and August 2008. (5) Following the introduction of the Libra case management system during 2008, offenders at magistrates courts can now be recorded as sex ‘not stated’. Source:  Justice Statistics Analytical Services—Ministry of Justice.

Chief Coroner

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the recommendations of the (a) Shipman Inquiry and (b) Luce Review in relation to a chief coroner.

Jonathan Djanogly: A number of recommendations from the Shipman Inquiry and the Luce Review were taken forward in Part One of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. The Ministry of Justice has considered how powers in the 2009 Act should be implemented in light of the decision not to proceed with the office of the Chief Coroner. The results of this assessment were set out in the Secretary of State’s statement to Parliament of 14 June 2011.

Civil Proceedings: Legal Costs

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice for what reasons the Government intends (a) to allow for the recoverability of after the event insurance premiums for expert reports in clinical negligence cases and (b) not to allow for the recoverability of such premiums for expert reports in other complex personal injury cases under the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill.

Jonathan Djanogly: As indicated in “Reforming Civil Litigation Funding and Costs in England and Wales - Implementation of Lord Justice Jackson’s Recommendations: The Government Response”, published and announced to Parliament on 29 March 2011, Cm 8041, the Government are aware of specific concerns in relation to the funding of expert reports in clinical negligence cases. Such reports, which can be expensive, are of particular importance in clinical negligence actions, where they are generally necessary to establish liability before it can be determined whether a potential claim has sufficient merit to be pursued.

Civil Proceedings: Legal Costs

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what effects he anticipates enactment of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill and associated secondary legislation will have on the after the event insurance industry.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Government have published an impact assessment alongside the reforms proposed in the Government response paper “Reforming Civil Litigation Funding and Costs in England and Wales - Implementation of Lord Justice Jackson’s Recommendations: The Government Response”, on 29 March 2011, Cm 8041, now being taken forward in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill. This impact assessment identifies potential impacts on individuals, groups and businesses.

Civil Proceedings: Legal Costs

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whom he intends to consult in the development of secondary legislation related to the civil litigation funding and costs clauses of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Government's response paper “Reforming Civil Litigation Funding and Costs in England and Wales - Implementation of Lord Justice Jackson's Recommendations: the Government Response” published on 29 March 2011, Cm 8041, confirmed that the Government would continue to discuss with stakeholders how the detail of various elements of the package of reform should be drafted, and that consultation on the changes to be implemented by way of secondary legislation would follow in due course as appropriate. My officials are in discussion with the Civil Justice Council and others with a view to setting up expert groups to consider these issues. Further details will be published in due course.

Civil Proceedings: Legal Costs

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he plans to implement Lord Justice Jackson’s recommendations on qualified one way cost shifting and the introduction of an additional sanction under part 36 of the Civil Procedure Rules.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Government intend to implement the proposals for qualified one way costs shifting and an additional sanction under part 36 as indicated in “Reforming Civil Litigation Funding and Costs in England and Wales - Implementation of Lord Justice Jackson’s Recommendations: The Government Response” published and announced to Parliament on 29 March 2011, Cm 8041. Clause 51 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill makes provision to allow an additional sanction under part 36. Qualified one way costs shifting will be implemented by way of amendment to the Civil Procedure Rules.

Community Legal Advice: Finance

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the cost to the public purse was of the Community Legal Advice helpline in each of the last five years.

Jonathan Djanogly: The cost of the Community Legal Advice Helpline, established in July 2004, is provided in the following table:
	
		
			  £ million 
			 2005-06 8.4 
			 2006-07 12.1 
			 2007-08 16.7 
			 2008-09 19.1 
			 2009-10 23.8 
			 2010-11(1) 23.3 
			 (1 )Figures for 2010-11 are unaudited.

Community Legal Advice: Finance

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much funding he plans to allocate to the Community Legal Advice helpline in each of the next three years.

Jonathan Djanogly: Provisional funding allocation for Community Legal Advice helpline (both operator and specialist advice services) for 2011-12 is approximately £23 million. Finalised allocation is pending detailed planning, following the Government's publication of the legal aid reform consultation response.
	No funding allocations have yet been made for 2012-13 and 2013-14.

Conditions of Employment

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many meetings officials of his Department have had with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills on the Government's employment law review since May 2011.

Jonathan Djanogly: Further to my answer of 21 June 2011, Official Report, column 172W, and given our responsibility for administering employment tribunals and the wider courts system, my Department has been consulted throughout on the proposals for the employment law review. In particular, we have worked closely with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) on proposals contained in the Resolving Workplace Disputes consultation, which was a joint exercise with my Department. My officials meet with counterparts from BIS regularly in this and other regards.

Coroners

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice on how many occasions (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have met several charities at the same time to discuss coroner reform; what organisations were present on each occasion; and what the dates of these meetings were.

Jonathan Djanogly: On 25 October 2010 I held a meeting with the following organisations:
	INQUEST;
	Royal British Legion;
	British Lung Foundation;
	Cardiac Risk in the Young;
	Action Against Medical Accidents;
	RoadPeace;
	Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association;
	Child Bereavement Charity;
	Victim Support;
	Epilepsy Bereaved;
	Compassionate Friends;
	Cruse Bereavement Care; and
	Coroners' Court Support Service.
	In addition to this meeting, I also met the Royal British Legion on 1 February 2011, INQUEST on 27 April 2011, Cardiac Risk in the Young on 9 May 2011 and the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Rushcliffe (Mr Clarke) and I met the Royal British Legion on 12 May 2011.

Coroners: Armed Forces

Michael McCann: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what arrangements have been agreed between his Department and the Scottish Government on the holding of fatal accident inquiries into the deaths of armed forces personnel based in Scotland.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Defence, Scottish Government and Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service are in the process of agreeing a protocol for effective liaison where it might be appropriate to hold a fatal accident inquiry in Scotland.
	The protocol will support statutory provisions being introduced under the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 which will allow, for the first time, investigations into the deaths abroad of military personnel to be transferred, where appropriate, to Scotland in order for a Fatal Accident Inquiry to be held.

Coroners: Judicial Review

Bob Ainsworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many judicial reviews relating to inquests were heard in the High Court in each year since 2006-07.

Jonathan Djanogly: Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service have provided the following figures in relation to judicial review proceedings brought against coroners’ decisions in the administrative court for each financial year since 2006-07.
	
		
			 Judicial review civil: coroners 
			  Oral applications Paper applications Renewal hearings Substantive hearings 
			 2006-07 3 10 2 3 
			 2007-08 5 20 1 4 
			 2008-09 4 16 12 5 
			 2009-10 1 14 6 12 
			 2010-11 1 13 3 3 
		
	
	While every effort has been made to ensure that these figures are accurate, the information has been extracted from a large administrative data system and they may be subject to minor amendments following data validation in due course.

Courts: Enforcement Services

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether a private sector operator of a contract for collection of criminal court fines will be able to place a charge on offenders.

Jonathan Djanogly: No tender process is under way for the provision of the collection of court fines, therefore the detail about the provision of services is not yet known.

Departmental Apprentices

John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  whether his Department has a policy on requirements for the provision of (a) apprenticeships and (b) other training by (i) his Department's prime contractors and (ii) suppliers in the supply chain of such contractors;
	(2)  how many apprenticeships have been created directly by contracts with his Department in each of the last three years.

Crispin Blunt: The Ministry of Justice do not have specific policies requiring prime contractors or suppliers to offer (a) apprenticeships or (b) other training.
	The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) has taken a number of steps to ensure compliance with the guidance produced by the Office of Government Commerce on promoting skills through public procurement published in 2009.
	We have published our commitment to the programme on the MoJ Procurement website where it is available for suppliers and members of the public to view.
	We have inserted a new schedule in our standard tender documents explaining this important initiative and where appropriate, requiring tenderers to ensure that a specified proportion of hours worked on the contract are to be delivered by an employee on an Apprentice or Training programme.
	For financial year 2008-09 the number of apprenticeships created directly by Ministry of Justice contracts was not recorded, and to obtain this information would incur disproportionate costs.
	For the financial year 2009-10 it was reported that 12 new apprenticeship placements were supported through Ministry of Justice Contracts.
	For the financial year 2010-11, data has yet to be collated and reported upon however it is the intention to have this information on record by September 2011.

Departmental Carbon Emissions

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the carbon dioxide emissions from his Department in (a) June 2010 and (b) June 2011.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Ministry of Justice works on actual data for carbon dioxide emissions. Carbon dioxide emissions from the Ministry of Justice office estate in June 2010 amounted to 9,768 tonnes; this does not include any emissions from the National Offender Management Service custodial estate or HM Land Registry ancillary estate.
	Between the 14 May 2010 and the 13 May 2011 the Ministry of Justice delivered a reduction of 11.5% in carbon dioxide emissions from its office estate.
	The Ministry is unable to provide figures for June 2011 as it is still collating and validating this data.

Departmental Manpower

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many people have been (a) recruited and (b) made redundant from (i) his Department and (ii) each non-departmental body for which he is responsible since May 2010;
	(2)  how much (a) his Department and (b) each non-departmental body for which he is responsible has spent on redundancies since May 2010.

Jonathan Djanogly: We have been unable to gather all the information the right hon. Member has have requested in the time scale. These data are not held centrally and have been requested from our non-departmental bodies. I will write to the right hon. Member with a full response when this information is available.

Electronic Tagging: Children

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many children released from custody were placed on a tag in the most recent year for which figures are available;
	(2)  how many children released from custody and placed on a tag were recalled to custody following a breach of their licence conditions in the most recent year for which figures are available;
	(3)  how many children released from custody and placed on a tag were serving a detention and training order in the most recent year for which figures are available;
	(4)  how many children released from custody were recalled following a breach of their licence conditions in each youth offending team area in the latest period for which figures are available;
	(5)  how many children released from custody and placed on a tag while serving a detention and training order were recalled to custody following a breach of their licence conditions in the most recent year for which figures are available.

Crispin Blunt: A young person can be placed on electronic monitoring as part of their bail package, as part of a curfew order or, if they are sentenced, due to a condition of their licence.
	The total number of juvenile cases (under 18) monitored electronically following release from custody in the financial year 2010-11 was 1656.
	The total number of juvenile cases (under 18) monitored electronically following release from custody on a Detention and Training Order (DTO) in the financial year 2010-11 was 1603.
	The following table shows the number of young people who started a recall to custody episode in 2009-10 following a breach of their licence conditions (regardless of when their original sentence was) in each Youth Offending Team (YOT) area. This was 630 in total.
	Information relating to the number of children released from custody and placed on a tag were recalled to custody following a breach of their licence conditions is not held centrally in an electronic format. To collect this data would involve contacting all 158 YOTs and asking them to check individual case files; this would incur disproportionate cost.
	
		
			 Table 1. Number of young people who started a recall to custody episode in 2009-10 in each YOT area 
			 Youth   o  ffending   t  eam Number of young people who started a recall to custody episode 
			 Barking and Dagenham 4 
			 Barnet 0 
			 Barnsley 2 
			 Bath and North East Somerset 5 
			 Bedfordshire 5 
			 Bexley 1 
			 Birmingham 17 
			 Blackburn with Darwen 5 
			 Blackpool 1 
			 Blaenau, Gwent and Caerphilly 4 
			 Bolton 3 
			 Bournemouth and Poole 0 
			 Bracknell Forest 2 
			 Bradford 8 
			 Brent 2 
			 Bridgend 2 
			 Brighton and Hove 1 
			 Bristol 6 
			 Bromley 1 
			 Buckinghamshire 3 
			 Bury 3 
			 Calderdale 3 
		
	
	
		
			 Cambridgeshire 0 
			 Camden 0 
			 Cardiff 5 
			 Carmarthenshire 6 
			 Ceredigion 0 
			 Cheshire 6 
			 Conwy and Denbighshire 2 
			 Cornwall 1 
			 Coventry 5 
			 Croydon 5 
			 Cumbria 10 
			 Darlington 5 
			 Derby 9 
			 Derbyshire 4 
			 Devon 0 
			 Doncaster 5 
			 Dorset 0 
			 Dudley 1 
			 Durham 6 
			 Ealing 0 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 2 
			 East Sussex 8 
			 Enfield 0 
			 Essex 7 
			 Flintshire 3 
			 Gateshead 7 
			 Gloucestershire 1 
			 Greenwich 1 
			 Gwynedd Mon 4 
			 Hackney 2 
			 Halton and Warrington 0 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham 0 
			 Haringey 1 
			 Harrow 1 
			 Hartlepool 0 
			 Havering 2 
			 Hertfordshire 3 
			 Hillingdon 0 
			 Hounslow 1 
			 Islington 2 
			 Kensington and Chelsea 1 
			 Kent 10 
			 Krngston-Upon-Hull 5 
			 Kingston-Upon-Thames 2 
			 Kirklees 5 
			 Knowsley 6 
			 Lambeth 1 
			 Lancashire 15 
			 Leeds 18 
			 Leicester City 11 
			 Leicestershire 1 
			 Lewisham 1 
			 Lincolnshire 4 
			 Liverpool 12 
			 Luton 1 
			 Manchester 29 
			 Medway 3 
			 Merthyr Tydfil 7 
			 Merton 3 
		
	
	
		
			 Milton Keynes 1 
			 Monmouthshire and Torfaen 0 
			 Neath Port Talbot 1 
			 Newcastle-upon-Tyne 5 
			 Newham 5 
			 Newport 3 
			 Norfolk 9 
			 North East Lincolnshire 0 
			 North Lincolnshire 4 
			 North Somerset 1 
			 North Tyneside 5 
			 North Yorkshire 6 
			 Northamptonshire 5 
			 Northumberland 2 
			 Nottingham 25 
			 Nottinghamshire 4 
			 Oldham 5 
			 Oxfordshire 3 
			 Pembrokeshire 1 
			 Peterborough 5 
			 Plymouth 1 
			 Powys 0 
			 Reading 3 
			 Redbridge 3 
			 Rhondda Cynon Taff 3 
			 Richmond-upon-Thames 1 
			 Rochdale 11 
			 Rotherham 4 
			 Salford 2 
			 Sandwell 3 
			 Sefton 1 
			 Sheffield 9 
			 Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin 2 
			 Slough 0 
			 Solihull 2 
			 Somerset 4 
			 South Gloucestershire 0 
			 South Tees 13 
			 South Tyneside 2 
			 Southend-on-Sea 3 
			 Southwark 8 
			 St. Helens 3 
			 Staffordshire 4 
			 Stockport 3 
			 Stockton-on-Tees 2 
			 Stoke-on-Trent 4 
			 Suffolk 9 
			 Sunderland 4 
			 Surrey 0 
			 Sutton 0 
			 Swansea 2 
			 Swindon 1 
			 Tameside 1 
			 Thurrock 4 
			 Torbay 1 
			 Tower Hamlets and City of London 0 
			 Trafford 4 
			 Vale of Glamorgan 1 
		
	
	
		
			 Wakefield 2 
			 Walsall 2 
			 Waltham Forest 2 
			 Wandswortb 6 
			 Warwickshire 0 
			 Wessex 38 
			 West Berkshire 2 
			 West Sussex 2 
			 Westminster 5 
			 Wigan 6 
			 Wiltshire 2 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead 0 
			 Wirral 5 
			 Wokingham 0 
			 Wolverhampton 2 
			 Worcestershire and Herefordshire 10 
			 Wrexham 7 
			 York 3 
			 Total 630 
			 1. The data comes from the YJB's Secure Accommodation Clearing House System (SACHS). 2. These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible data entry errors and processing and may be subject to change over time.

Immigration Advisory Service

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent discussions he has had with the Immigration Advisory Service regarding the status of the current clients of the service and their on-going legal cases.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Legal Services Commission (LSC) has been working closely with Immigration Advisory Service (IAS) for some time now following an audit which raised concerns around the company’s financial management and claims irregularities and as such, the Trustees of the IAS decided that the organisation had to enter into administration on 8 July 2011.
	The primary concern for the Government and the LSC now is to ensure clients of IAS continue to get the help they need. The LSC expects that the administration of IAS will allow a managed close down process of IAS's activities and an orderly transfer of clients to new providers. Provisional arrangements have been made to ensure that any emergency cases are dealt with speedily.
	Meanwhile the LSC is identifying alternative advice provision in the areas affected and arrangements for case transfer will follow as soon as possible. Three IAS hub centres will be kept open for the moment: in Manchester, Birmingham and Bradford which will help facilitate the transfer of these cases.

Immigration Advisory Service

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps he is taking to ensure repayment of money which the Immigration Advisory Service claimed in error to the legal Services Commission.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Legal Services Commission (LSC) is working with the administrators to establish the value of claims for work that had not been submitted for payment when Immigration Asylum Service (IAS) entered administration, following a decision by its Trustees on 8 July 2011. These claims will be set off against any sum that is confirmed as being owed to the LSC as a result of the Contract Compliance Audit, which has not yet concluded.

Judges: Retirement

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what arrangements govern the posts former judges are able to take up following the end of their appointment.

Kenneth Clarke: Salaried Judicial Office Holders are appointed on the understanding that they do not return to private practice as a barrister or solicitor in their former jurisdiction. Former judges may, however, provide services as independent arbitrators or mediators.

Legal Aid Scheme

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many clinical negligence claims made with assistance from legal aid by claimants in North Wales were successful in (a) 2008-09 and (b) 2009-10; and how much was paid to (i) the claimants and (ii) their legal representatives in consequence in each such year.

Jonathan Djanogly: In relation to damages paid to claimants resulting from clinical negligence cases in North Wales, this information is shown in the following table.
	
		
			 Financial year Volume Damages (£) Legal fees (£) 
			 2008-09 5 353,200 0 
			 2009-10 13 295,000 25,360 
		
	
	Payment of damages reflects amounts paid in cases closed in the financial year. The amount of fees paid will reflect instances where a case is settled and costs have been agreed between the parties. These fees may relate to cases that settled in previous years.

Legal Aid Scheme

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what criteria will be used to determine the most serious cases under his proposals for reform of legal aid; and how many cases met those criteria in 2009-10.

Jonathan Djanogly: The starting point for our consideration has been to examine, from first principles, which issues should attract public funding in the light of the financial constraints. In reaching our proposals, we have taken into account our domestic, European and international legal obligations, including the European Convention on Human Rights, and have also taken into account the importance of the issue at stake in the case, the litigant's ability to present their own case, the availability of alternative sources of funding and the availability of other routes of resolution. Our impact assessment shows that based on cases funded in 2009-10 we intend to retain approximately 390,000 acts of assistance within scope of the civil legal aid scheme.

Legal Aid Scheme: Children

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether children representing themselves in civil cases will have access to legal aid under his proposed reforms to legal aid.

Jonathan Djanogly: For cases retained within the scope of the civil legal aid scheme, children and adults will have access to legal aid, subject to the usual tests of financial means and the merits of the case. We have announced our intention to retain legal aid for children for family proceedings. This will primarily be where the judge decides that it is in the best interests of the child for them to be separately represented from the other parties in the case (usually their parents).
	For cases that will be excluded from the scope of the civil legal aid scheme, there will be a safety net in the form of our exceptional funding scheme. This will allow funding to be granted in individual excluded cases where failure to provide funding would amount to a breach of the individual's rights to legal aid under the Human Rights Act 1988 or EU law. In considering whether exceptional funding should be granted we will take into account the ability of the client to present their own case, the complexity of the issues, the importance of the issues at stake and all other relevant circumstances. In the vast majority of civil cases, parents will be bringing proceedings on behalf of their children as their litigation friend. Where children are acting without a litigation friend, this would be taken into consideration in deciding whether they had the ability to present their own case.

Legal Aid Scheme: Children

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many civil cases relating to (a) debt, (b) immigration, (c) housing and (d) benefits where legal aid advice or representation was provided involved a self-represented child or a child represented by a legal guardian in 2009-10; and what the cost to the public purse was of legal aid in each category of case.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Legal Services Commission (LSC) does not hold information which clearly distinguishes between children who represented themselves and children represented by a legal guardian. However, the following tables outline the volume of cases and the costs to legal aid to represent persons under the age of 18 years in the financial year 2009-10, for matters involving debt, housing, immigration and asylum, and welfare benefits.
	
		
			 Civil representation 2009-10 
			 Category Closed cases Closed case spend (£) 
			 Debt 4 20,926 
			 Housing 162 328,661 
			 Immigration and Asylum 72 226,709 
			 Welfare Benefits 2 5,701 
			 Sub total 240 581,997 
		
	
	
		
			 Legal help 2009-10 
			 Category Claim volume Claim value (£) 
			 Debt 127 26,590 
			 Housing 1,308 294,460 
		
	
	
		
			 Immigration and Asylum 11,412 10,365,387 
			 Welfare Benefits 1,278 249,608 
			 Sub total 14,125 10,936,045

Legal Aid Scheme: Children

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many cases where legal aid advice or representation was provided, involved (a) children at risk of abuse and (b) international child abduction in 2009-10; and what the cost to the public purse was of the legal aid provided in such cases.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Legal Services Commission (LSC) does not record information separately that counts those cases where there are concerns that children are at risk of abuse. Table 1 shows the number of public law family cases and spend for 2009-10. It is considered that it is likely that children funded in these categories may be at risk of abuse.
	Table 2 shows the number of international child abduction cases and expenditure funded under a legal aid certificate. However, there may also be other types of matters, such as wardship which involve issues of child abduction. These figures exclude advice and assistance under Legal Help as the LSC do not record this level of detail under legal help.
	
		
			 Table 1: Public law family cases, 2009-10 
			 Category Volume of closed cases Closed case spend (£000) 
			 Special Children Act 27,233 265,690 
			 Other public law children 7,078 38,097 
		
	
	
		
			 Table 2: International child abduction cases, 2009-10 
			 Proceeding code Volume of closed cases Closed case spend (£000) 
			 Child Abduction/Custody Act 1985 182 2,231 
			 Child Abduction/Custody free (non means-tested) 188 2,598

Legal Aid Scheme: Domestic Violence

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many claimants have received legal aid in relation to domestic violence cases in each of the last five years; and what the cost to the public purse was of legal aid in relation to domestic violence cases in each of the last five years.

Jonathan Djanogly: Legal aid in domestic violence funds two levels of service; legal help, for initial advice and civil representation funded under a legal aid certificate in cases likely to proceed to court.
	The value of legal aid claims under legal help and the number of matters started are included in Table A.
	
		
			 Table A 
			  Volume Value (£ million) 
			 2005-06 16,786 3.3 
			 2006-07 16,974 3.4 
		
	
	
		
			 2007-08 26,245 5.2 
			 2008-09(1) 29,360 6.4 
			 2009-10(1) 28,724 6.9 
			 (1) Before October 2007 it was possible to report only one matter in family legal help e.g. children or domestic violence. The new way of recording allows the Legal Services Commission (LSC) to record multiple matters. So advice involving both children and domestic violence can now be recorded as such. Whereas it would have been domestic violence or children before. 
		
	
	The expenditure and the number of cases funded under a legal aid certificate are included in Table B.
	
		
			 Table B 
			  Volume Value (£ million) 
			 2005-06 21,222 62.1 
			 2006-07 19,509 59.3 
			 2007-08 19,631 61.7 
			 2008-09 21,645 69.3 
			 2009-10 20,984 64.3 
		
	
	Table C shows the number of cases funded under a legal aid certificate together with the legal costs where they are met by the opponent to the party funded under legal aid.
	
		
			 Table C 
			  Volume Value (£ million) 
			 2005-06 40 0.2 
			 2006-07 43 0.2 
			 2007-08 36 0.2 
			 2008-09 26 0.2 
			 2009-10 16 0.1

Legal Aid Scheme: Per Capita Costs

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice which countries his Department used to benchmark the average cost per head of legal aid; and what the average cost per head is in each such country.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Ministry’s assessment of the average cost per head of legal aid abroad relies on the research report “International Comparison of Publicly Funded Legal Services and Justice Systems” which provides robust comparisons of legal aid spending in England and Wales and a selection of European and non-European countries, as well as an assessment of the difficulties of international comparisons in this area. It is published on the Ministry of Justice website at
	http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/docs/comparison-public-fund-legal-services-justice-systems.pdf
	In addition, the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) publishes reports on “European Judicial Systems: Efficiency and Quality of Justice” which are updated every two years. These reports contain a range of information on judicial systems, including legal aid, for a broad selection of European countries. The latest report is available at
	http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/cooperation/cepej/evaluation/default_en.asp

Legal Costs

Mark Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to table 6.5, chapter 2, of the Review of Civil Litigation Costs: Preliminary Report, May 2009, what costs were paid by defendants to the claimants' solicitors in each type and category in respect of category B claims concluded in (a) 2008 and (b) 2009.

Jonathan Djanogly: The table the hon. Member refers to appears at Part 2: Chapter 6 of Lord Justice Jackson's Preliminary Report of his Review of Civil Litigation Costs, and the data was provided by the Legal Services Commission. Equivalent figures for (a) 2008 and (b) 2009 are available on the Legal Services Commission's website, in the annual ‘statistical information’ publications. I should point out that the figures relate to financial years, rather than calendar years.
	The figures for 2008-09 can be found in table CLS9 in ‘Statistical Information 2008-09’, available at:
	http://www.legalservices.gov.uk/archive/archive_about.asp
	The figures for 2009-10 can be found in table CLS9 in ‘Statistical Information 2009-10 - July 2010’, available at:
	http://www.legalservices.gov.uk/aboutus/how/strategic_publications.asp#annual

Offences Against Children

Robert Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 23 June 2011, Official Report, column 62-4W on child sexual exploitation, what offences relating to child sexual exploitation were included in the data provided.

Crispin Blunt: The offence descriptions relating to child sexual exploitation that were included in the answer of 23 June 2011, Official Report, columns 62-4W, can be viewed in the following table.
	
		
			 Offences relating to child sexual exploitation 
			 Statute Section Description 
			 Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.1 Rape and attempted rape of a child under 16 
			 Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.5 Rape and attempted rape of a child under 13 
			 Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.6 Assault on a child under 13 by Penetration 
			 Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.7 Sexual assault of a child under 13 
			 Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.8 (1) and (2) and (3) Causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity 
			 Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.9 Sexual activity with a child 
			 Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.10 Causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity 
			 Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.11 Engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child 
			 Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.12 Causing a child to watch a sexual act 
			 Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.14 Arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence 
			 Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.15 Meeting a child following sexual grooming 
			 Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.47 Paying for sexual services of a child 
			 Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.48 Causing or inciting child prostitution or pornography 
			 Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.49 Controlling a child prostitute or a child involved in pornography 
			 Sexual Offences Act 2003 S.50 Arranging or facilitating child prostitution or pornography 
			 Sexual Offences Act 1956 as amended by Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 S.142 S.1 Rape and attempted rape of a child 
			 Sexual Offences Act 1956 S.5 Unlawful sexual intercourse with a child under 13 
			 Sexual Offences Act 1956 S.6 Unlawful sexual intercourse with girl child under 16 
			 Sexual Offences Act 1956 as amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act S.12 Buggery or attempted buggery 
			 Sexual Offences Act 1956 S.25 Householder permitting girl under 13 years to use premises for intercourse 
			 Sexual Offences Act 1956 S.26 Householder permitting girl under 16 years to use premises for intercourse 
			 Sexual Offences Act 1956 S.28 Causing or encouraging prostitution of, intercourse with, or indecent assault on, girl under sixteen 
			 Indecency with Children Act 1960 Sec 1 Gross indecency with children

Offenders: Rehabilitation

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many offenders serving life sentences have cognitive self-change programmes in their sentence plans;
	(2)  how many cognitive self-change programme places there will be in prisons in (a) 2011, (b) 2012 and (c) 2013.

Crispin Blunt: Details of the of individual sentence plan requirements for prisoners serving life sentences are not held centrally and the number of life sentence prisoners with a recommendation in their sentence plan to complete the cognitive self-change programme (CSCP) could be obtained only at disproportionate cost by collecting information held on offender files or on local data systems, validating it, and then collating it in a common format in order to provide a response.
	NOMS targets for the provision of places on accredited offending behaviour programmes are set for business years (i.e. 1 April to 31 March) rather than calendar years. In 2011-12 the target is to provide a total of 60 places for CSCP in prison establishments in England and Wales.
	The targets for future years have yet to be set.

Offenders: Unpaid Work

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many incidents occurred involving offenders in unpaid work groups of each size of group in (a) 2008, (b) 2009 and (c) 2010.

Crispin Blunt: Information is not collected on the size of the group of offenders in which an incident occurred.
	Information is available on the number of incidents involving offenders in unpaid work in 2009 and 2010, and the average size of groups of offenders in unpaid work for 2010-11.
	In 2009 there were at least 607 reported incidents involving offenders in unpaid work.
	In 2010 there were at least 791 reported incidents involving offenders in unpaid work.
	In 2010-11 the average size of groups of offenders in unpaid work was six.
	Note:
	Data are not available on incidents in the former Sussex Probation area and so figures for ‘Number of reported incidents involving offenders in unpaid work’ in 2009 and 2010 will understate the total number of incidents.

Prisons: Discipline

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will bring forward proposals to make available to (a) the public, (b) victims of crime and (c) interested parties the disciplinary records of offenders while in prison, including details of (i) offences and (ii) breaches of prison rules committed while in custody.

Crispin Blunt: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 28 June 2011, Official Report, column 712W.

Prisons: Safety

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what assessment he has made of the standards of prison safety at HMP Birmingham on 1 October of each of the last five years; and if he will assess the likely standard on 1 October 2011.

Crispin Blunt: Standards of prison safety are not measured at any one point in the year, but are subject to measurement throughout the year using a range of data and assessments.
	Prisons are assessed regularly by external independent regulators, such as HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) and the local Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), by NOMS Internal Audit and Assurance teams, including a Measuring the Quality of Prison Life (MQPL) survey and by NOMS national performance management using Key Performance Indicators and Targets (KPIs and KPTs) which include measurement of safety and security among others.
	Local management and staff are responsible for ensuring that safety, in all forms, is monitored on an ongoing basis and where necessary prompt, corrective action is taken to minimise violence or self-harm.
	All prisons are subject to assessment and audit by NOMS management and external regulation regardless of provider; this has applied to HMP Birmingham over the last five years and this will apply to HMP Birmingham on 1 October 2011 and after the completion of the handover to G4S, the new provider.

Remand in Custody

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many (a) women and (b) men remanded in custody in each year since 2001 subsequently received a custodial sentence that was served fully on remand;
	(2)  how many (a) women and (b) men were remanded in custody on the grounds of (i) being accused of a serious offence, (ii) risk of absconding, (iii) risk of interference of witnesses, (iv) lack of community ties and (v) risk of committing further offences in each year since 2001.

Crispin Blunt: Information on bail and remand collated centrally by the Ministry of Justice and held on the Court Proceedings Database does not record the length of time defendants spent on remand. Therefore it is not possible to say from the data available how many offenders receiving a custodial sentence served the time fully on remand.
	Information on bail and remand collated centrally by the Ministry of Justice and held on the Court Proceedings Database does not record the reason(s) for remanding defendants into custody.
	The information regarding time spent on remand and reasons for remanding defendants to custody could only be ascertained by reference to individual court and prison files which could be achieved only at disproportionate cost.

Sexual Offences: Criminal Injuries Compensation

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice pursuant to the answer of 5 July 2011, Official Report, column 1212W, on sexual offences: Criminal Injuries Compensation, how many claims were made for compensation for (a) sexual assault injuries and (b) injuries categorised under the heading non-consensual vaginal and/or anal intercourse, or non-consensual penile penetration of the vagina and/or anus and/or mouth.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) does not hold that information. When people apply for criminal injuries compensation they are asking CICA to assess what happened to them, decide whether they are eligible for compensation and, if so, how much. Injury descriptions, from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme's ‘tariff of injuries’, are used as the primary basis for paying compensation so they are only reliably recorded once CICA have assessed someone as eligible to receive the compensation payable for that injury. Similarly, since payments are based on injuries and not crimes, CICA does not hold figures for how many people apply following a specific crime or type of crime.

Victim Support Schemes

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department spent on supporting victims of crime and witnesses who were party to proceedings at York Crown court in (a) 2009-10 and (b) 2010-11.

Jonathan Djanogly: These figures are not recorded by my Department. The support of victims and witnesses party to proceedings at York Crown court are provided by a range of agencies including the Victim's Service, HMCTS and the police. The agencies consider, on an individual basis, what support to provide to victims and witnesses depending upon their circumstances.

Aimhigher Programme

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the number of activities to be delivered (a) following the end of the Aimhigher programme and (b) in the academic year 2011-12; and how such activities will be delivered;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the ability of universities to provide support and impartial service to students equivalent to that offered under the Aimhigher programme.

David Willetts: We are establishing a new framework, with increased responsibility on institutions to widen participation and greater Government investment in improving attainment and access for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Higher education institutions (HEIs) will deliver a range of outreach activities as part of their access agreements, agreed with the Office for Fair Access (OFFA), and their widening participation strategic assessments, agreed with the Higher Education Funding Council for England.
	We are moving away from an assessment of inputs and processes to a focus on clear outputs from access activities and measurable progress against appropriate benchmarks.
	It is right that universities have the freedom and flexibility to decide how to spend their resources in a way that offers the greatest benefit. Universities will be able to focus their outreach and other activities where they will have the most impact, including through partnerships. Last week OFFA announced their decisions on institutions' access agreements for 2012/13. The agreements contain institutions plans for investment in activities to widen access through programmes such as summer schools, scholarships and fee waivers, estimated to reach more than £600 million annually by 2015.

Aimhigher Programme

Chris Williamson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he considered the merits of restructuring the Aimhigher programme.

David Willetts: Universities and schools have learned a lot from the Aimhigher programme about “what works” in raising the aspirations of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Much of this knowledge is now embedded in the sector. However, while there has been some progress in improving access to higher education, overall this has masked a position where institutions and courses that offer the greatest lifetime benefits to their graduates have failed to reflect the wider social mix of our country.
	We needed a new and different approach that builds on existing best practice, while developing it further. We are establishing a new framework, with increased responsibility on institutions to widen participation; and greater Government investment in improving attainment and access for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Last week the Office for Fair Access announced their decisions on Institutions’ Access Agreements for 2012/13. The agreements contain institutions' plans for investment in activities to widen access through programmes such as summer schools, scholarships and fee waivers, estimated to reach more than £600 million annually by 2015.

Apprentices

Nicholas Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the written ministerial statement of 23 June 2001, Official Report, column 21WS, on apprenticeships (creation of opportunities), what proportion of apprentices who started their apprenticeship in the 2010-11 academic year were undertaking learning under the Train to Gain scheme in 2009-10.

John Hayes: We do not have information available on the number of apprentices who started their apprenticeship in the 2010/11 academic year who were undertaking learning under the Train to Gain scheme in 2009/10 academic year.
	Since May 2010, the Skills Funding Agency encouraged colleges and providers to switch(1) activity from Train to Gain to support more employers to invest in apprenticeships and support the government's commitment to an additional 50,000 adult apprenticeships.
	Provisional data shows that this Government have delivered 326,700 apprenticeship starts in the first nine months of the 2010/11 academic year—this is 114,000 more than the previous year and more than double our ambition.
	(1) In June 2011 (Statistical First Release) there were 327,000 Apprenticeship starts and 354,000 Train to Gain starts (between August and April) compared to 212,000 Apprenticeships starts and 427,000 Train to Gain starts for the same period in 2010.

Apprentices

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many apprenticeship starts there were where the Skills Funding Agency 25 per cent. large employer discount was applied for (a) 16 to 18, (b) 19 to 24 and (c) 25 plus apprenticeships in 2009-10 and the first three quarters of 2010-11.

John Hayes: holding answer 12 July 2011
	Table 1 shows the number of Apprenticeship starts where the Skills Funding Agency 25% rate reduction for large employers(1) was applied for 19 to 24 and 25+ Apprenticeships between August 2010/11 academic year is detailed in the table.
	(1) The Apprenticeships 2010/11 Funding Requirements Version 2, published in October 2010, states that from 2010/11 there will be an up front 25% rate reduction for all 19+ Employer Responsive provision delivered to and by large employers, that is, those with 1,000 or more employees. The publication can be found at this website:
	http://readingroom.lsc.gov.uk/SFA/ApprenticeshiFunding_ Requirements_2010_11-v2_October.pdf
	
		
			 Table 1: Apprenticeship starts for learners aged 19 and over, August to January 2010 to April 2011 (provisional) 
			  19 to 24 25+ 
			 Total Apprenticeship starts 102,800 121,000 
			 Of which:   
			 Apprenticeship starts that qualified for large employer reduction 22,400 36,400 
			 Note: All figures are rounded to the nearest 100. Source: Individualised Learner Record 
		
	
	The Skills Funding Agency first applied a 25% rate reduction for large employers at the start of the 2010-11 academic year; data relating to the 25% reduction for large employers is therefore not available for 2009/10. The 25% reduction for large employers only applies to 19+ provision, therefore data relating to 16 to 18-year-old learners is not available.
	In addition to the 25% rate reduction for large employers, the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) and the Skills Funding Agency (the Agency) will seek to secure further value for money, such as unfunded learners, in its work with the largest national employers.

Apprentices

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many learners have started more than one apprenticeship at the same level since April 2009.

John Hayes: holding answer 12 July 2011
	Table 1 shows the number of learners that have started more than one Apprenticeship programme at the same level at the same provider in (i) the 2009/10 academic year and (ii) provisional data between August 2010 and April 2011 for the 2010/11 academic year.
	
		
			 Table 1: Learners starting more than one Apprenticeship programme at the same level within an academic year, 2009/10 and August to April 2010/11 (provisional) 
			  2009/10 2010/11 August to April (provisional) 
			 Number of learners with more than one start 2,040 2,370 
			 Notes: 1. These figures are based on the number of Apprentices who start more than one apprenticeship programme with the same provider and within the same academic year only. 2. These figures include those learners who have transferred or completed their apprenticeship programme. Source: Individualised Learner Record 
		
	
	There were a total of 279,700 Apprenticeship programme starts in the 2009/10 academic year. In 2010/11 to date, provisional data show 326,700 programme starts between August 2010 and April 2011.
	A learner who starts more than one Apprenticeship at the same level is normally only endorsed when an individual is changing their career. The “Apprenticeships 2010/11 Funding Requirements” Version 2, published in October 2010, states that:
	“Funding will only be available for a maximum of one Apprenticeship Framework at any one time. The delivery of more than one Apprenticeship Framework must be done consecutively and not concurrently. This includes Frameworks that are in either the same sectors or not. Where the learner wishes to progress to another Framework, at the same or higher level, then the previous Framework must have either been achieved or the learner has been withdrawn from the Framework.”

Apprentices

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many apprenticeships had a planned length of stay that was less than (a) 53 weeks, (b) 29 weeks, (c) 17 weeks and (d) less than 13 weeks in 2009-10 and the first three quarters of 2010-11.

John Hayes: holding answer 12 July 2011
	Table 1 shows the number of apprenticeship programme starts which had a planned length of stay(1) that was less than (a) 53 weeks, (b) 29 weeks, (c) 17 weeks and (d) less than 13 weeks in the 2009/10 academic year and the first three quarters of the 2010/11 academic year (provisional).
	(1) Estimates of the planned length of stay are derived from the difference between the apprenticeship programme start date and the planned end date.
	
		
			 Table 1: Apprenticeship programme starts by planned course duration for 2009/10 and August 2010 to April 2011 (1) 
			  Apprenticeship starts 
			  2009/10 August to April 2010/11 (1) 
			 13 weeks and under 3,690 3,860 
			 14-17 weeks 3,990 5,960 
			 18-29 weeks 30,660 38,650 
			 30-53 weeks 109,680 144,520 
			 54+ weeks 131,660 133,760 
			 Total 279,700 326,700 
		
	
	
		
			 (1) Provisional. Notes: 1. The start date and planned end date entered on to the ILR reflect the length of the apprenticeship programme applicable to an individual learner and is based on a number of factors including the needs of the employer, which is agreed at the outset with them, the individual apprentice and the training provider. In issuing apprenticeship frameworks, each issuing authority (typically sector skills councils) will determine the ‘normal’ length of stay. For many intermediate apprenticeships this is 12 months or 52 weeks, and for advanced programmes it is generally in excess of 12 months. 2. All figures are rounded to the nearest 10 except for total figures which are rounded to the nearest 100. 3. Figures for 2010/11 cover August 2010 and April 2011 and are provisional. It is not possible to directly compare provisional 2010/11 estimates against final full year 2009/10 figures. Source: Individualised Learner Record.

Apprentices

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many young people (a) started and (b) completed apprenticeships in (i) York Central constituency, (ii) City of York, (iii) Yorkshire and the Humber and (iv) England in each year since 2005.

David Willetts: The following table shows the number of apprenticeship starts and achievements in York Central parliamentary constituency, York local education authority, Yorkshire and Humber, and England for the academic years 2005/06 to 2009/10, the latest year for which final year data are available.
	
		
			 Apprenticeship starts and achievements in academic years 2005/06 to 2009/10 
			   2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 
			 York Central constituency Starts 320 380 410 480 530 
			  Achievements 190 240 210 330 310 
			        
			 York Local Education Authority Starts 590 690 780 830 950 
			  Achievements 340 480 390 620 580 
			        
			 Yorkshire and Humber Starts 22,420 24,140 29,300 32,170 36,530 
			  Achievements 12,730 15,550 15,380 19,230 22,130 
			        
			 England Starts 175,000 184,400 224,800 239,900 279,700 
			  Achievements 98,700 111,800 112,600 143,400 171,500 
			        
			 Notes: 1. All figures are rounded to the nearest 10 except England total which is rounded to the nearest 100. 2. Geography information is based upon the home postcode of the learner. Information on the number of apprenticeship starts and achievements is published in a quarterly statistical first release (SFR). The latest SFR was published on 23 June 2011: http://www.thedataservice.org.uk/statistics/statisticalfirstrelease/sfr_current Source: Individualised Learner Record

Apprentices: Arts

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he has any plans to lay regulations before Parliament enabling flexible models for the delivery of advanced and higher level apprenticeships in the digital and creative industries.

John Hayes: In accordance with the commitment set out in the Department's “Structural Reform Plan(1)”, the Department is in the process of finalising draft English apprenticeship alternative completion conditions regulations intended to provide flexibility for the delivery of apprenticeships in specific occupations not only in the digital and creative Industries but also in set crafts, maritime occupations and photo imaging, where self-employment and unpaid work are the predominant and accepted mode of employment. These are on track to be completed by the end of July 2011 .and we hope to be in a position to lay the draft regulations before Parliament in September.
	(1) ( )http://transparency.number10.gov.uk/transparency/srp/view-srp/44/94

Apprentices: Richmond upon Thames

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many people have started an apprenticeship in Richmond Park constituency in 2011.

David Willetts: The following table shows a quarterly breakdown of apprenticeship starts in the Richmond Park parliamentary constituency during the first nine months of the 2010/11 academic year, from August 2010 to April 2011, based on provisional data.
	Figures relating to the calendar year are not available, however quarterly provisional totals for each of the last three quarters are shown for reference.
	
		
			 Apprenticeship starts in Richmond Park constituency by quarter, between 1 August 2010 and 30 April 2011 (provisional) 
			  Apprenticeship starts in Richmond Constituency 
			 August 2010 to October 2010 (provisional) 40 
			 November 2010 to January 2011 (provisional) 50 
			 February 2011 to April 2011 (provisional) 60 
			 August 2010 to April 2011 (provisional) 150 
			 Notes: 1. All Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Geography information is based upon the home postcode of the learner. Information on the number of apprenticeship starts is published in a quarterly statistical first release (SFR). The latest SFR was published on 23 June 2011: http://www.thedataservice.org.uk/statistics/statisticalfirstrelease/sfr_current Source: Individualised Learner Record

Bombardier

John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills on what dates he has met representatives of Bombardier since his appointment; and whether (a) he and (b) other Ministers in his Department plan to meet Bombardier to discuss the future of the company in the UK.

Mark Prisk: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave on 4 July 2011, Official Report, column reference 1073W.
	The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, my right hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), has had no meetings with Bombardier Transportation since his appointment but he, like other Ministers, would not have been able to discuss the details of live public rail procurement tenders while they were still being evaluated and awarded. Bombardier has not, since the Thameslink announcement, sought a meeting with any BIS Minister.
	However, BIS officials are in regular contact with the company both in setting up the Economic Response Task Force and to discuss ongoing support to Bombardier Transportation as they carry out their own internal review of their rail operations in the UK. BIS Permanent Secretary, Martin Donnelly, is scheduled to meet the Colin Walton (Chairman, UK and Ireland Bombardier Transportation Group) on 27 July.

Bombardier

John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what meetings (a) he and (b) Ministers in his Department have arranged with Bombardier on their future in the UK.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 13 July 2011
	There are currently no scheduled meetings between the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) Ministers and Bombardier. BIS officials and UKTI are in regular contact with the company both in setting up the Economic Response Task Force and to discuss ongoing support to Bombardier, as they carry out their own internal review of their operations. Colin Walton is also scheduled to meet the BIS Permanent Secretary, Martin Donnelly, on 27 July.

Business

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what research he has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the views of those running small and medium-sized businesses.

Mark Prisk: This Department undertakes regular surveys, including the BIS Small Business Survey, and other research on a range of topics relating to small businesses, details of which can be found at:
	http://www.bis.gov.uk/policies/enterprise-and-business-support/analytical-unit/research-and-evaluation

Business Links

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what the timetable is for the integration of Business Link with the AlphaGov programme.

Mark Prisk: The Government Digital Service, led by the Cabinet Office, has launched an Alpha version of a new website on the internet to test the concept of a “Single Government Domain” with customers and developers. A Beta version of this site is due to be released in July 2011.
	While both the Alpha and Beta versions of the Government's Digital Service are being tested, a plan for the migration of content on the current Business Link website is being drawn up with HM Revenue and Customs who are responsible for managing the BL.Gov Programme. There are no fixed dates for this migration exercise to be completed at this stage.
	BIS will play a lead role in the migration exercise ensuring that businesses can continue to access the support they need during this transition period.

Business: Regulation

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many regulations that impose costs on businesses his Department (a) introduced and (b) removed in the six months prior to 1 September 2010; and what the net effect on the costs on businesses of such introductions and removals was.

Mark Prisk: In the six months prior to 1 September 2010, BIS introduced one regulation that imposed costs to business, the consumer credit directive. The cost is £40 million and the benefit is £180 million, with a net effect benefitting business of some £140 million.
	In the six months prior to 1 September 2010, BIS removed three regulations with net effect benefiting business by some £9.5 million. These are:
	amendments to the conduct of employment agencies and employment business regulations—net effect of £7.5 million benefitting business;
	the Legislative Reform (Insolvency) (Miscellaneous Provisions) Order 2009—net effect of £7.5 million benefitting business; and
	modernisation of insolvency rules—zero cost to business.

Business: Regulation

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what recent discussions he has had with the European Commission on the burden of regulation on micro-businesses;
	(2)  what discussions he has had with his EU counterparts on reducing regulatory burdens on small businesses and micro-enterprises.

Mark Prisk: I have raised these issues with Antonio Tajani, the Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, and with Daniel Calleja Cresepo, the European Commission’s SME Envoy. I have also spoken with Members of the European Parliament.
	In addition, senior staff engage on an on-going basis with the Commission Secretary-General, her deputy and Members of the Barroso cabinet on this matter.
	I have spoken with my German and Belgian counterparts, and jointly lobbied the Commission with my German, Italian and Polish colleagues on the review of the Small Business Act for Europe.

Business: Rural Areas

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent estimate he has made of the likely level of business capital to be available in rural communities in each of the next four financial years.

Mark Prisk: The Government do not have any evidence that rural businesses have any issues regarding access to finance beyond those identified for businesses generally.
	The British Bankers Association (BBA) Taskforce has made 17 commitments to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in order to support economic recovery. These commitments cover bank relationships with SME customers, access to finance and promoting understanding.
	One of these was a commitment to enhance the cross-industry lending dataset by broadening the statistics available on lending to deprived areas and national and regional data on the provision of bank support to business start-ups. The first set of data is expected in autumn 2011. This information will help us to identify any regions or specific areas where there is a particular issue with accessing finance.
	The Government are also committed to supporting microfinance, to support loans to SMEs and start-ups in disadvantaged groups and communities.
	Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) lend to enterprises that traditional lenders may consider too costly to serve or too risky (this might be for reasons including absence of a track record or lack of security to offer to the lender), but who have viable business plans and will have a positive impact on the local community. We have given the go-ahead (subject to due diligence) for a new £30 million wholesale fund, funded through the regional growth fund, that will provide resources for CDFIs. This will be the largest fund of its kind for the sector ever.
	On a national level, the Government continue to support the Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme—facilitating lending to viable SMEs who lack sufficient collateral or track record to access bank finance on standard commercial terms. To date, over £1.5 billion of loans have been offered to SMEs through the Enterprise Finance Guarantee, which has been extended to 2014-15, with £700 million available this year.
	As a result of talks with Government, the UK's five major banks have stated a capacity and willingness to lend £190 billion of new credit to business in 2011, including new businesses. This includes £76 billion of new lending to SMEs, which is a 15% increase on the amount lent in 2010.

Care Homes: Training

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what funding his Department provides for workplace training in the residential care home sector.

David Willetts: In the 2011-12 financial year we plan to invest over £3.8 billion for over 3 million adult training places funded through the Skills Funding Agency. This includes the £180 million package announced in Budget 2011 for an additional 50,000 adult apprenticeship places over this spending review.
	From the 2011/12 academic year we have introduced a single adult skills budget. This will provide further education colleges and training organisations with the flexibility to offer the range and balance of programmes, from basic skills to higher-level skills, in the mode of delivery that will best meet the needs of learners, employers and communities (classroom, workshop, online and in the workplace). As funding is not allocated at the learning aim level the amount of money spent on qualifications in specific sectors is not reported centrally by the Skills Funding Agency.

Departmental Manpower

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  how many staff are employed in his Department's Retail Unit; how many were employed in May 2010; and what changes in staff numbers in the Retail Unit are planned over the comprehensive spending review period;
	(2)  how many economists are employed in his Department's Retail Unit; how many such economists were employed in May 2010; and what changes in the number of economists in the Retail Unit are planned over the comprehensive spending review period.

Mark Prisk: Four people were employed in my Department's retail team in May 2010 and the retail team now comprises three people. In addition, two more people are helping the team specifically on the Mary Portas review, and the team is able to call on the wider resources of the Department, which includes advice from economists.

Departmental Redundancy

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much (a) his Department and (b) each non-departmental body for which he is responsible has spent on redundancies since May 2010.

Edward Davey: In June 2009 the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills was merged with the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) to create the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).
	BIS ran a voluntary exit scheme in September-October 2010, at a total cost of £27,169,651. In February 2011 the Department launched a voluntary redundancy scheme that is still ongoing, in respect of which the 2010/11 accounts contained an accrual of £9 million for costs that were incurred in the financial year and, in addition, a provision of £5.9 million against expected future costs.
	This information for agencies and non departmental public bodies is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Electric Vehicles

Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will commission research into (a) the product life cycle of electrical components and (b) the environmental sustainability of electric vehicles before deciding on further expenditure on the electric automotive sector.

Norman Baker: I have been asked to reply.
	The Government keep their electric and other ultra low emission vehicle policies under review to ensure that they continue to deliver environmental and green growth benefits taking account of relevant research.
	Government research has estimated that an electric vehicle manufactured in 2010 is around 40% more efficient than a petrol-fuelled equivalent over its life cycle. This figure will automatically improve in line with improvements in the environmental performance of the national grid.
	The Technology Strategy Board is currently funding a series of studies on vehicle battery recycling and re-use which helps to address concerns around sustainability and recovery of raw materials.

Electronic Equipment: Waste Disposal

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on the application of the European Union Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive 2002/96/EC, as amended by 2003/108/EC; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Prisk: I met the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) on 7 December 2010 and discussed the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) directive. Officials are in regular contact with officials in DEFRA.
	The European Commission is seeking to recast the WEEE directive to increase the minimum levels of WEEE collected and the overall levels of that equipment and products that is treated, recycled or reused.
	The UK's priority in the negotiations is to deliver more consistency in implementation across member states, reduce administrative burdens and bring greater clarity for business and other obligated parties.

Employment Schemes: Young People

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what proposals he has had for the operation of sector-based work academies set out in his Department's Structural Reform Plan.

John Hayes: The Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Department for Work and Pensions have engaged with relevant sector bodies to discuss the proposals for the operation of sector-based work academies. This engagement has shaped the model we are now using which will offer participants up to six weeks of pre-employment training and work experience leading to a guaranteed interview.

Employment Schemes: Young People

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what consultation his Department has had with representatives of employers on (a) their involvement with and (b) the implementation of sector-based work academies.

John Hayes: BIS officials have worked with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to engage employment representative bodies in both the development and implementation of sector-based work academies. This included discussions with employer representative organisations, sector skills councils and national skills academies. In addition, a number of employers were directly involved in a series of consultative events held earlier this year by DWP. Employers in a range of sectors were also involved in the recent test of the approach in the South Yorkshire and Merseyside regions and their input has been used to influence the model that will be implemented in England from August.

English Language: Education

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the average student contribution to course fees for each level of study that will be required for those on inactive benefits to access English for speakers of other language courses in the 2011-12 academic year;
	(2)  what the average course cost will be for English for speakers of other language courses at each level of study in the 2011-12 academic year.

David Willetts: As autonomous bodies, further education (FE) colleges and training providers are responsible for their fees policies.
	In 2009/10(1) the average cost full cost of an English for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL) course for those without full fee remission was £1,057, which covered courses ranging from 9 to 530 guided learning hours. From August 2011, full fee remission will be provided for unemployed people in receipt of jobseeker’s allowance or in the employment and support allowance (work-related activity) group, and this will include ESOL courses where English language skills have been identified as a barrier to entering employment. We will continue to pay 50% of ESOL course fees for people who are settled here. We will no longer fund ESOL courses delivered in the workplace, as public funding should not be used to substitute employer investment in this training. We have introduced increased freedoms and flexibilities for FE colleges and providers providing them with increased flexibility to respond to the needs of their communities.
	(1) The last full academic year for which data is available.

Environment Protection: At Albans

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he has taken to encourage the growth of the green economy in St Albans.

Mark Prisk: The Government will shortly publish a Roadmap to a Green Economy, to provide clarity for businesses across the economy and a platform for growth. It will set out a clear vision for the green economy of the future, the Government's policy framework and the risks, opportunities and challenges for businesses.
	At a local level, local enterprise partnerships decide priorities, and this Department will work to help them deliver maximum economic growth across their area in the future. We work closely with industry and trade associations to get the right environment to enable green businesses to flourish and how best to enable companies overcome barriers to business.

Further Education

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what guidance his Department provides to further education colleges on their governance.

John Hayes: holding answer 13 July 2011
	Further education colleges are independent organisations, incorporated under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. Through this legislation the Department issues Instrument and Articles of Government which sets out a governance framework that each college must adhere to. However, as independent organisations they are themselves responsible for their policies, procedures and governance so the Department does not provide guidance.

Further Education: Admissions

Charles Kennedy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the resources and personnel which will be required to enable the Office for Fair Access to maintain the present level of scrutiny of university access agreements; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: The Government have committed through the recent White Paper ‘Students at the Heart of the System’ (June 2011) to strengthen the Office for Fair Access (OFFA), so that it can provide more active and energetic challenge and support to universities and colleges. We will want to work with the Director on the size and structure of OFFA but will make significantly more resources available, increasing capacity up to around four times its original level. This would equip OFFA to use its powers fully to monitor and review Access Agreements and identify and promote best, evidence-based practice.

Further Education: Private Sector

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions he has had with the Office of National Statistics on the reclassification of further education colleges as part of the private sector; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: The Office of National Statistics (ONS) is an independent body which classifies organisations as public or private sector bodies for the purposes of compiling National Accounts according to international and EU agreed guidelines. The ONS’ decisions are based on objective consideration of the facts and it is the final arbiter of classification decisions for the purpose of National Accounts. The Department, working with HM Treasury, has presented evidence to the ONS seeking to clarify the nature of the relationship between further education colleges and Government. This included information about our proposals, as set out in the Education Bill 2011, to reduce the regulatory burden as part of the Government's commitment to free colleges from central control. We await the outcome of the ONS' consideration of this evidence.

Further Education: Public Sector

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether further education colleges are classified as public sector institutions.

John Hayes: holding answer 14 July 2011
	In October 2010 the Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced its decision to classify further education colleges as central Government bodies for the purposes of national accounts. The Department, working with HM Treasury, has presented evidence to the ONS seeking to clarify the nature of the relationship between further education colleges and Government. This included information about our proposals, as set out in the Education Bill 2011, to reduce the regulatory burden as part of the Government's commitment to free colleges from central control. We await the outcome of the ONS' consideration of this evidence.

Green Investment Bank

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what role the Green Investment Bank will have in supporting (a) small and medium-sized enterprises and (b) business start-ups;
	(2)  what role the Green Investment Bank will have in supporting recharging infrastructure for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Mark Prisk: The Green Investment Bank (GIB) will support the deployment of green infrastructure and late stage technologies. It will tackle finance gaps which exist despite a range of strong policies to incentivise green investments.
	Our May update publication identified offshore wind, waste and non-domestic energy efficiency as examples of sectors which may currently face gaps. But the intention is to maintain a broad remit for the bank in view of the breadth of opportunities and challenges associated with greening the economy. As an enduring financial institution, the GIB will need to make investments that are expected to make a positive return.
	In due course, Ministers will set the strategic direction of the bank, ensuring that it becomes an effective instrument of green policy.
	There is already a broad range of Government interventions to assist SMEs’ growth, including Enterprise Finance Guarantee and Enterprise Capital Funds.

Green Investment Bank

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills 
	(1)  what representations he has received on the requirement for legislation to establish the Green Investment Bank;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the requirement for legislation to establish the Green Investment Bank;
	(3)  what assessment he has made of the requirement to obtain state aid clearance from the European Commission in respect of the Green Investment Bank.

Mark Prisk: A number of stakeholders expressed a view that legislative underpinning for the bank could send a positive signal around the Government's commitment to create an enduring institution. Following state aid approval, the Government will introduce appropriate legislation confirming the Green Investment Bank's independent status as an enduring institution with a key public role.
	Whenever Government bodies make investments, they must comply with state aid rules. The UK's proposals for creating the Green Investment Bank are subject to approval by the European Commission which must investigate the proposals and reach decisions on whether or not they are compatible with the provisions of the EU treaty as it relates to state aid. In the case of the Green Investment Bank, there may be state aid issues around the institution itself (because it is being capitalised with Government funds) as well as around some of the products it might deploy, which might be viewed as subsidies.
	The Government have begun engagement with the European Commission on the Green Investment Bank.

Higher Education

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment has been made of the potential effects of planned changes to higher education funding on the level of (a) uptake and (b) fees for (i) MSc and (ii) PhD courses.

David Willetts: holding answer 13 July 2011
	The recent HE White Paper noted that the Browne review had raised the possibility that in future when graduates are contributing more to the costs of their higher education at undergraduate level, they may be less likely to participate in postgraduate study and so recommended that trends in participation should be monitored carefully. Professor Sir Adrian Smith's Postgraduate Review Group reconvened in spring 2011 to advise on this issue.
	This group advised that Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) be asked to review participation in postgraduate study, following the changes to undergraduate funding, as part of a longer term assessment and evaluation of the impact of the funding changes. We will also ask HEFCE to consider as part of their review what additional data should be collected about postgraduates. We will revisit the issue of postgraduate funding as the new system beds in.

Higher Education

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he plans to require the Higher Education Statistics Agency to collect information on new providers of higher education, including for-profit institutions; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: The White Paper “Higher Education: Students at the Heart of the system” (CM 8122) makes clear that we expect information requirements to apply to all providers as part of a single, transparent regulatory framework. The information that the Higher Education Statistics Agency is required to collect will depend on the type of degree awarding status or source of public funding a provider wishes to access. Precise information requirements for individual providers are a matter for the Higher Education Funding Council for England to determine through its regular review of provider agreements.
	Proportionate information requirements are essential to ensure accountability to students and the public on quality, access, value for money and financial regularity. But data collection can impose burdens on higher education institutions and we will work with the Higher Education Statistics Agency to reduce the size of data collections through the periodic review process.

Higher Education

Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what his policy is on widening participation in the higher education sector.

David Willetts: The Government have been very clear about the importance of widening participation and improving fair access in higher education. We are establishing a new framework, with increased responsibility on institutions to widen participation; and greater Government investment in improving attainment and access for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Higher education institutions (HEIs) will deliver a range of outreach activities as part of their access agreements, agreed with the Office for Fair Access (OFFA), and their widening participation strategic assessments, agreed with the Higher Education Funding Council for England.
	Last week OFFA announced their decisions on institutions' access agreements for 2012/13. The agreements contain institutions' plans for investment in activities to widen access through programmes such as summer schools, scholarships and fee waivers, estimated to reach more than £600 million annually by 2015.

Higher Education: Admissions

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what targets each higher education institution has agreed with the Office for Fair Access in each year since that office was established.

David Willetts: This is a matter for the Director of Fair Access. The Government made clear in their guidance letter to the Director that institutions should identify their own measures by which they will judge the success of their investment in access. The Government do not impose targets. They are chosen by individual institutions and agreed with the Office of Fair Access (OFFA).
	To date, OFFA has published sector level summary information on progress on milestones. This information is available in the relevant annual reports describing monitoring outcomes, available at:
	www.offa.org.uk
	From September 2012, the Director of Fair Access will assess annually the progress made by each institution towards appropriate benchmarks and other measures of widening participation, access and student retention that higher education institutions will have agreed with OFFA through their access agreements. OFFA will require institutions to publish a summary of their progress against their own proposed milestones and targets each year.

Higher Education: Admissions

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will publish the research used by the Office for Fair Access in the formulation of targets for access for individual higher education institutions set out in paragraph 5.22 of the Higher Education White Paper.

David Willetts: Our recently published Higher Education White Paper made clear that measures and targets in access agreements are chosen by the institution and agreed with the Office of Fair Access (OFFA).
	In February, our letter of guidance to the Director of Fair Access set out our expectation that institutions should agree a programme of defined progress each year—set within a five-year timeframe—in relation to appropriate benchmarks. This might include the access and retention benchmarks as calculated by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). In addition we encouraged the use of measures taking account of the individual context of the institution and using an institution's own data. These expectations have been reflected in the Director's own guidance to the sector.

Higher Education: Admissions

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many students who started courses of higher education in 2009-10 had AAB equivalent qualifications.

David Willetts: holding answer 11 July 2011
	In 2009/10 there were 56,000 UK and EU-domiciled entrants to English higher education institutions who had AAB or above equivalent qualifications. This is the same population used for the 65,000 estimate of the AAB population in 2012/13 quoted in the Higher Education White Paper.
	Source:
	2009/10 HESA and ILR data.

Higher Education: Admissions

John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what methodology was used to model the impact of the new system of allocating student places set out in the Higher Education White Paper.

David Willetts: The impact assessment of the proposals in the White Paper can be found on our website. This includes modelling on the policy of allowing unrestrained recruitment of highly qualified students, and the creation of a margin of 20,000 places.
	We have asked the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to consult, immediately, on how to implement these approaches and to develop the necessary mechanisms. We have also asked HEFCE to monitor the impact of the approach and its effect on supply and demand and provide advice, as soon as feasible, on how the model is operating in its first year.

Higher Education: Admissions

John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will place in the Library a copy of the results of any modelling carried out by (a) his Department and (b) the Higher Education Funding Council for England on models of allocation of student places.

David Willetts: The impact assessment of the proposals in the White Paper can be found on our website. This includes modelling on the policy of allowing unrestrained recruitment of highly qualified students, and the creation of a margin of 20,000 places.
	We have asked the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to consult, immediately, on how to implement these approaches and to develop the necessary mechanisms. We have also asked HEFCE to monitor the impact of the approach and its effect on supply and demand and provide advice, as soon as feasible, on how the model is operating in its first year.
	HEFCE have published some modelling of institutional impact of AAB proposal as part of their consultation on changes to be implemented in 2012/13. This shows the number of entrants with AAB or above and the number below AAB and can be found via the following link:
	http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2011/11_20/

Higher Education: Admissions

John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills when he plans to inform higher education institutions how many student places are to be withdrawn to create a flexible margin in (a) 2013-14, (b) 2014-15 and (c) 2015-16.

David Willetts: The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) generally publish details of their provisional allocations in March informed by a grant letter from the Government normally issued in December of the previous year. Final allocations of recurrent funding to institutions are confirmed in July. This information contains details of the recurrent funding received by each institution and numbers of funded places.

Higher Education: Admissions

John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will estimate the number of places that would be withdrawn from each higher education institution to create a margin of (a) 20,000, (b) 40,000 and (c) 60,000 places assuming the most recent distribution of students accepted with AAB or above at A level remains unchanged.

David Willetts: The Higher Education Funding Council for England's consultation document states that creating a margin of 20,000 students would amount to an average reduction of approximately 8% to the student number control of all institutions with an Access Agreement with the Office for Fair Access. Reductions of 40,000 and 60,000 would therefore be approximately 16% and 24% respectively.

Higher Education: Finance

Nicola Blackwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer to Lord Willis of Knaresborough of 10 January 2011, House of Lords Official Report, column WA394, on higher education: funding, what steps he is taking to encourage private giving to colleges and universities following the closure of the matched funding scheme for voluntary giving.

David Willetts: The matched funding was intended as a time limited scheme to incentivise universities to improve their fund raising efforts. We are fully funding the £115 million required for the third and final year and expect the total Government contribution of £200 million to have leveraged an additional £400 million in donations to higher education institutions. The 2011 Budget also announced a number of measures that will encourage private giving in the higher education sector, including, a 10% cut in inheritance tax for estates leaving at least 10% to charities. This has been warmly welcomed by the sector.
	Additionally, higher education institutions' efforts to boost voluntary giving will be supported by a major profile-raising campaign for payroll giving and a philanthropy committee to consider honours for notable philanthropists, both announced in the recent Cabinet Office Giving White Paper. We will also explore ways Government can support existing mechanisms for voluntary giving, including among graduates.

Higher Education: Science

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 21 June 2011, Official Report, columns 276-80W, on higher education: science, how many full-time first degree entrants studying each subject listed in the answer (a) there were in each (i) region and (ii) local authority area and (b) were in receipt of free school meals in each year since 2002-03.

David Willetts: The latest available information from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) is shown in the tables. Region and local authority relate to the students' location at the time of application to higher education (HE) rather than the location of the higher education institution.
	Comparable information on students who received free school meals is not available. Figures on the number of HE students who previously had free school meals (FSM) is derived by matching the National Pupil Database with the HESA student record. However, the dataset only tracks a cohort from age 15 to whether they enter HE by age 19. The figures provided in the tables cover students of all ages so are not comparable with the FSM population that only covers young entrants.
	The Department plans to publish information on progression rates to HE by FSM status in an Official Statistics publication on 10 August 2011.
	A copy of the tables will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

Higher Education: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how much funding the Higher Education Funding Council for England has distributed for (a) teaching and (b) research for each full-time equivalent learner to (i) the university of York and (ii) York St John university in each year since 2005.

David Willetts: This information is not held in the form requested. However, it is possible to provide notional figures for the amount of grant distributed by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) for teaching and research apportioned by the number of learners (full-time equivalent) in each year. It should be noted that there have been some significant changes in HEFCE's funding methodology over this period which means that the following table should not be read as a time series. HEFCE funding is one source of income only and the figures provided do not include income from fees. In addition the data do not take account of other sources of public funding, for example from the NHS or the research councils. Crucially it should be borne in mind that institutions have a significant degree of freedom in terms of how its grant is distributed internally. It is for that reason that the figures given are notional and should not be read as the actual level of resource attached to any particular learner.
	
		
			 £ per academic year 
			  York St John university University of York 
			 Study level UG PGT PGR UG PGT PGR 
			 2004-05 3,522 359 1,458 3,344 1,484 8,515 
			 2005-06 3,695 350 n/a 3,438 1,540 6,210 
			 2006-07 3,897 509 n/a 3,668 1,672 5,149 
			 2007-08 4,075 642 n/a 3,895 1,828 5,854 
			 2008-09 4,078 927 n/a 4,088 1,911 5,806 
			 2009-10 3,699 687 4,808 3,864 728 5,268 
			 2010-11 3,608 371 4,366 3,768 718 4,922 
			 Key: UG—Undergraduate PGT—Postgraduate taught PGR—Postgraduate research. Notes: UG/PGT 'Funds' for UG and PGT are standard resource minus assumed fees, plus widening access and improving retention funding. 'FTEs' are Home and EU HEFCE-funded, excluding non-completions. Funding for non-mainstream FTEs has been excluded. PGR Figures include proportionately small amounts of transitional funding for PGR students. For the years in which the mainstream QR quality threshold differed from the PGR supervision fund threshold, the student numbers in this analysis include the larger of the eligible student totals. In the early years some notional teaching grant is included in the funding amounts.

Human Trafficking

Fiona Mactaggart: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what responsibility he has for contributing to Government action against human trafficking; and what recent action he has taken in this regard.

Edward Davey: The Inter-Departmental Ministerial Group (IDMG) on Human Trafficking—which this Department is not represented on—co-ordinates work on trafficking across Government. The group brings together Ministers from key Departments to provide oversight and to strengthen our efforts to tackle human trafficking by ensuring that input and expertise from all Departments is shared.
	The IDMG last met on 17 February 2011. The group will meet every six months with a meeting of officials in-between. The next meeting of the group will be held in the autumn.
	The Government will shortly be publishing their strategy on human trafficking. The strategy will reiterate the UK's intention to take a comprehensive approach to combating trafficking—both by focusing on tackling traffickers and maintaining effective care for victims. It will also mark a greater focus on combating the organised crime groups behind this crime.
	The Government's approach will be based on four key principles:
	improved victim care arrangements;
	enhancing our ability to act early, before the harm has reached the UK;
	smarter, multi-agency action at the border; and
	a more co-ordinated policing effort at home.

Insolvency

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on HM Revenue and Customs' role as a repeat unsecured creditor in insolvency cases; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Davey: I have not had any discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, my right hon. Friend the Member for Tatton (Mr Osborne), on this issue.
	BIS officials have held discussions with their counterparts in HM Revenue and Customs, with a view to exploring ways in which that Department can use its role as a large repeat creditor in corporate insolvencies to influence the level of fees charged by Insolvency Practitioners. Those discussions are ongoing.

Insolvency

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he plans to take steps to ensure that any fee review in insolvency cases arising from reform of the regulation of insolvency practitioners will limit losses to the insolvent estate; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Davey: The Department is currently reviewing responses to the consultation on the regulation of insolvency practitioners. Whether to add a fee review mechanism formed a significant part of that consultation, and the question raises an important issue which is being considered as part of the review process.

Local Enterprise Partnerships: Yorkshire and the Humber

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent meetings he has had with the chairs of local enterprise partnerships in Yorkshire and the Humber.

Mark Prisk: Over the last three months there have been no meetings between my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and the chairs of the local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) in Yorkshire and the Humber.
	My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State is visiting the Humber on the 20 July 2011 and will meet with John Clugston the interim chair of the Humber LEP as part of that visit.
	During my visit to Leeds and York on the 28 April 2011 I met with both Neil McLean, the Leeds City Region LEP chair and Barry Dodd, the York and North Yorkshire LEP chair. I also met with James Newman, Sheffield City Region LEP chair when he attended the partnerships launch event on 12 May 2011.

Manufacturing Industries: Training

John Denham: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what support his Department is providing to the train manufacturing sector in the UK.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 13 July 2011
	Further to the launch of the Economic Response Task Force which will look at understanding and mitigating the economic impact of job losses at Bombardier and it’s supply chain, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the right hon. Member for Twickenham (Vince Cable), and the Secretary of State for Transport, the right hon. Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) have asked their officials to work together with the sector and key delivery partners, such as UKTI, to support the train manufacturing sector and the wider rail supply chain in securing more sustainable UK jobs through clearly identified business opportunities.

New Businesses

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps his Department is taking to increase entrepreneurial activity among (a) black, Asian and minority ethnic people, (b) service leavers and (c) women.

Mark Prisk: The information is as follows:
	Service leavers
	The Government have provided endowment funding totalling £5 million for the 'Be the Boss' initiative to provide recent ex-service personnel with funding, training and mentoring support to help them start and grow a business. 'Be the Boss' is delivered by the Royal British Legion and experienced partners across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland:
	http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/can-we-help/help-with-starting-a-business
	Ethnic minority groups and women
	The evidence with regard to entrepreneurial activity among black, Asian and other minority ethnic people is complex. Many minority ethnic groups are more enterprising than white ethnic groups and for other ethnic groups the barriers to enterprise are imperfectly understood. We know, for example that young black males have a higher rate of start-up than white ethnic groups but a much bigger gap between levels of ambition to start an enterprise and actual start-up.
	The evidence with regard to women and enterprise is also complex. While it remains the case that significantly fewer businesses are majority-led by women than by men (with only one in seven of all small and medium-sized business employers being women-led) and that rates of enterprise ambition are lower among women than among men (in 2009, 2.9% of women not already engaged in enterprise said they intended to start up in business in the next three years, compared to 6.1% of men), start-up data indicate that in the recent past women have often been starting up in business at a faster rate than men.

Postal Services

Stephen Mosley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether his Department has received any representations about the quality of the postal service in City of Chester constituency.

Edward Davey: This Department has not received any representations about the quality of the postal service in the City of Chester constituency.
	Quality of service is an operational matter for Royal Mail.

Postgraduate Education: Finance

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many student places on (a) taught Masters' courses, (b) other Masters' studies, (c) PhD studies and (d) other doctoral studies received funding from the (i) Arts and Humanities Research Council, (ii) Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, (iii) Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, (iv) Economic and Social Research Council, (v) Medical Research Council, (vi) Natural Environment Research Council and (vii) Science and Technology Facilities Council in each of the last three years; and what estimate he has made of the equivalent figures in each of the next three years.

David Willetts: The following tables show the available data for the research councils, with explanatory notes. These abbreviations are used:
	AHRC is the Arts and Humanities Research Council
	BBSRC is the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
	EPSRC is the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
	ESRC is the Economic and Social Research Council
	MRC is the Medical Research Council
	NERC is the Natural Environment Research Council
	STFC is the Science and Technology Facilities Council
	In each of the last three years:
	
		
			  (a) Taught Masters (b) Other Masters (c) PhD (d) Other doctoral studies 
			  2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 
			 AHRC — — — 496 585 607 587 745 729 — — — 
			 BBSRC — — — 110 111 110 503 539 555 — — — 
			 EPSRC — — — — — — 2,579 2,788 2,902 — — — 
			 ESRC — — — 6 6 6 686 719 730 — — — 
			 MRC(1) — — — 69 63 — 307 276 — 55 51 — 
			 NERC — — — 285 285 285 316 334 325 — — — 
			 STFC — — — — — — 258 240 225 — — — 
		
	
	Estimates of the equivalent figures for each of the next three years:
	
		
			  (a) Taught Masters (b) Other Masters (c) PhD (d) Other doctoral studies 
			  2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 
			 AHRC — — — 490 480 480 730 720 720 — — — 
			 BBSRC — — — 110 110 0 530 400 420 — — — 
			 EPSRC — — — — — — 1,900 1,900 1,800 — — — 
			 ESRC — — — 6 6 6 660 660 660 — — — 
			 MRC(1) — — — — — — — — — — — — 
			 NERC — — — — — — 330 330 330 — — — 
		
	
	
		
			 STFC — — — — — — 230 230 230 — — — 
			 (1)  Notes on MRC data: 1. The data presented for (b) other Masters excludes any studentships where a Masters has been funded as part of doctoral study. 2. The data presented under (c) other doctoral training were clinically trained students funded as Clinical Research Training Fellows. 3. All of the data presented above excludes studentships at MRC funded Centres. In 2008/09 there were a total of 226 students undergoing doctoral training in MRC funded Centres. This figure includes existing and new students. The MRC does not have data available for any other years. 4. Data for 2010/11 is not yet available. 5. The number of studentship places funded by the MRC is subject to annual review, hence there are no figures given in the second table. At present MRC have no plans to significantly increase or decrease funding for PhD or Research Masters Studentships. Note on BBSRC data: All Masters students are included in “Other Masters”. Separate figures are not available for Taught and Research Masters. PhD studentship numbers for the last three years are estimates from data based on returns provided by awarded institutions. Note on EPSRC data: EPSRC only supports Masters level training when it aligns with their broader strategy. For this reason, in 2009 they decided to focus most of their support in this area on activities which employ Masters—level training as a means of developing highly skilled doctoral—level researchers, rather than those which view the provision of Masters graduates as an end in itself. As a result, their current support for Masters level training is delivered via the Centres for Doctoral Training, Doctoral Training Accounts and some courses in Mathematical Sciences (e.g. Statistics). Not all of these routes provide students with a formal Masters qualification so it would be difficult to be definitive about numbers over a specific period. Note on ESRC data: ESRC funds a mix of 3 year PhD and 1 year + 3 years Masters + PhD awards. The total amount of these awards is included under section (c) PhD for the previous and next three years. ESRC are unable to disaggregate these figures further in the time available without use of disproportionate resources, however they estimate that 60% of the awards are of the 1+3 type. Under section (b) Other Masters, they have included a strategic initiative where we fund standalone Masters to build research capacity in Demography. Note on NERC data: NERC does not differentiate between MSc and MRes, so all places listed as other masters. Notes: 1. The year presented relates to an academic year i.e. 2008/09 relates to students starting in October 2008. 2. The data does not take in to account any funds leveraged by HEIs to increase the total number of studentship places available. 3. Figures for the next three years are estimates and hence the actual numbers may vary from those given above. If universities choose to support part—time students and fees—only students, and/or match research council funding with that from other sources, then more students will be able to be supported; PhD students may also be supported by larger Research Grants from some councils.

Research: Finance

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what representations he has received on future funding for research capital in each of the last six months; and if he will make a statement.

David Willetts: Following proposals made by the research councils, an extra £100 million of science capital was announced in the 2011 Budget. This will help drive innovation and growth and reflects our commitment to cutting-edge research. The projects announced were as follows:
	£26 million to develop the Norwich Research Park;
	£44 million to develop the Babraham Research Campus;
	£10 million to develop the national Science and Innovation Campus at Daresbury;
	£10 million for three further instruments at the ISIS neutron source in Harwell; and
	£10 million to start a National Space Technology Programme.

Science Capital Development Fund

Matthew Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what projects are to be funded from his Science Capital Development Fund; and where each such project is to be located.

David Willetts: The following capital projects were identified by the Research Councils as their highest scientific priorities and currently receive funding from the BIS Large Facilities Capital Fund (LFCF):
	
		
			 Project Location 
			 Institute for Animal Health redevelopment Pirbright, Surrey 
			 Laboratory of Molecular Biology Cambridge 
			 Diamond Light Source Phase III Harwell, Oxfordshire 
			 Chipir facility at ISIS neutron source Harwell, Oxfordshire 
			 HECToR supercomputer Edinburgh 
			 Replacement for RRS Discovery Southampton 
			 Birth Cohort Facility Swindon 
			 European Life-Science Infrastructure for Biological Information (ELIXIR) Cambridge 
			 Note: LFCF funding earmarked subject to approval of the business case.

Spaceflight

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what discussions he has had with European organisations on plans for manned space flight and exploration.

David Willetts: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Winchester (Mr Brine), Thursday 14 July 2011, Official Report, columns 454-55.

Students: Finance

Joan Ruddock: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessment he has made of the effect on conservatoires of his proposals for core and marginal funding of student places.

David Willetts: The Government see an important role for small and specialist institutions like conservatoires. In our December 2010 grant letter to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) we asked the Council to treat such institutions as a priority in allocating its teaching grant. We repeated that message in our recent White Paper and the letter we wrote to the Council on its publication. In that letter, we also asked the Council to consult on how best to implement our proposals to free up student number controls, to allow student choice to drive competition, quality and efficiency across the sector. Those proposals have two elements—the unrestrained recruitment of high achieving students, scoring the equivalent of AAB+ or above at A level; and the creation of a flexible margin of about 20,000 places.
	Early indications are that some conservatoires may be able to recruit additional students scoring the equivalent of AAB+ or above at A level. It is for the Council to take decisions on the details of the mechanisms used to implement this approach.

Students: Loans

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the proportion of medical students that take out commercial loans during their studies.

David Willetts: The Student Income and Expenditure Survey 2007/08, published in April 2009, is a comprehensive study of student income, expenditure, borrowing and debt. It showed that 61% of English domiciled full-time undergraduate medical or dental students(1) (across all years of study) expected to have borrowings from commercial sources, including commercial credit and overdrafts, by the end of the academic year.
	(1) Base sample = 170 respondents.

Technology Strategy Board: Finance

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills pursuant to the answer of 26 April 2011, Official Report, column 269W, on the Technology Strategy Board: finance, when he expects to announce the final budget of the Technology Strategy Board for 2012-13 and 2013-14.

David Willetts: We plan to notify the Technology Strategy Board of its allocation for 2012-13 and 2013-14 in March 2012 and March 2013 respectively.

Thameslink Railway Line: Rolling Stock

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what assessments were carried out when awarding the bid to build Thameslink trains on the impact of (a) loss of revenues to supply chain companies to bidders and (b) potential loss of jobs at those supply chain companies.

Theresa Villiers: holding answer 13 July 2011
	I have been asked to reply.
	I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the right hon. Member for Southampton, Itchen (Mr Denham) today (UIN 63731).